Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good to get that clear. I am sure everybody understands that. Could the Minister of Finance please advise this House why we did break for one week in the middle of the budget session? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you have pointed out, I cannot answer on behalf of the Assembly. I can say that it was the government's expectation that we would come back this week after concluding the budget to see whether or not Bill 15 might be coming forward from the standing committee for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps then I could ask if the Minister could just clarify for us what was the intent of his comments on CJCD last Friday and Saturday? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was asked, as was the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, for a comment by the press on the budget not having been concluded. I said that I was disappointed we had not concluded the budget. When asked if there was any impact, I said yes, there are two programs we had announced, Investing in People and the Working Together Program that would be affected in terms of when access to funds would be available. My colleague, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, made similar comments to other members of the media, and it was reported in other media in the same manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. This is my final question then, Mr. Speaker. What the Minister of Finance is saying is that he wanted this House to conclude consideration of the $167 million for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in the less than two hours that we had last Friday before the planned break in the House, he wanted that concluded in less than two hours in order to recognize the clock at 2 o'clock on Friday. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was not saying that we needed to necessarily conclude it, I said I was disappointed that we did not conclude the budget. I would point out that we did not answer any questions about the budget, nor did we get into the details of the budget. In fact, we did not talk about the budget on Friday, the 30th, when we could have at least started consideration. Mr. Speaker, there were at least two previous occasions during that week when this House voted to extend hours to conclude consideration of items or to carry on the consideration. We were not limited necessarily by the four hours less the lunch hour we had scheduled for ourselves on Friday. We could have carried on consideration if it was the will of the Members. Members did not have that will, and as a result, we took a break for a week. Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.