Thank you, Madam Chair. On behalf of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, it is my pleasure to provide our report on the Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 1, 1997/98. The committee met with the Minister of Finance on Friday, May 23, 1997 to review the appropriation. Many of the items in the Bill are related to five areas: funding for the northern employment strategy, capital carry-overs from 1996/97, medical travel funding to boards, user-say/user-pay transfers from the Department of Public Works and Services, and transfers of funds to support community empowerment.
We had some concern about the amount of capital carry-overs. However, we note that it is about $6 million less than last year. Better planning should reduce this amount even further, than has already been done. In areas where the Members had questions about the Bill, we were generally satisfied with the explanations provided by the Minister. This concludes Government Operations report on Supplementary Appropriation No. 1, 1997/98. Thank you.