Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this week, on Tuesday evening, Mr. Erasmus, Mr. Henry and I held a joint constituency meeting. I would like to briefly summarize some of the issues that constituents raised: Education funding, people are concerned about the lack of dollars in this year's budget. They urged us to try to find additional monies for education. On the budget, people are concerned that our $34 million surplus is being used this year and they are concerned what will happen next year.

Constituents told us that over the last two years they have tolerated reduced spending on key public services because they believed it was important to have a balanced budget for division. But now, with the budget balanced and our surplus committed, there are no spare funds in the bank for after next year.

As our population continues to grow, programs in Education, Health and Social Services are already underfunded now. What will the future bring? Clearly, we need to continue our efforts in finding new revenues. Royalties from resource developments are one possible source.

On another matter, a number of constituents involved in running non-profit organizations are very concerned about government support in this area. The non-profit service sector is a major employer and program manager in many of our communities. For example, at our meeting, representatives from the YWCA and the Canadian Mental Health Association pointed to a crisis situation in the lack of multi-year funding commitments. When they are running an operation with rental and staffing commitments based only on year-to-year funding, these organizations suffer from high staff turnover and program interruption.

The government provides funds to these organizations. It is also a major referral agent, directing individuals to these organizations for counselling, emergency care and work placements. It would seem to me that it is in our best interest to work at ensuring stability and success in program delivery.

I would like to see the government do a review of how it funds non-profit organizations and how both the government and the non-profit organizations can better meet the public's needs. These were some of the issues. Another issue included the Highway 3 acceleration, and the situation at Giant Mine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause