Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as in my Member's statement, I will be continuing on from my questions yesterday on the budget process. The Minister responsible for the Department of Finance has given a speech today and remarked on a number of things that we have embarked on as Members of the 14th Assembly.
Specifically, in his statement, he talked about the second conclusion, that there are no short term fixes to most of the issues we face. The issues have been developed over a long period of time, so solving them, from what I read here, will take quite some time.
The other area he speaks of is one that we have to pay attention to because it relates directly to a concern that I have raised. It reads "otherwise we will end up tinkering around the edges of our economic and social issues, while they only get worse". I agree that if we do not look at the long term and take a serious inward look at how government carries on its programs and services, tinkering just will not do the job.
Hopefully the Minister can inform us in this House that the directions that are given to staff will not only ensure we do not hit our debt wall, but will ensure that some of the work that is going to be ongoing will in fact be taking a very serious look at how we deliver programs in the House. Is that the situation, Mr. Speaker?