Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 1995-96, numbers offered by FMBS changed by $50 million in the course of six weeks. I remember that time period well.
In the fall of 1998, the Assembly was told things were really good and significant supplementary spending subsequently took place, near $100 million, if my memory serves me correctly. Five months later, we were told those figures were not quite what we thought, and things were not as rosy. In fact, things were looking a little grim.
Apparently again this week, fiscal position has differed from that paper by $19 million.
The third area, Mr. Speaker, is written questions. During the February Session, I had asked a number of written questions requesting basic operating information. For example, I asked Public Works and Services to tell me how many contracts were over budget and by how much. Mr. Speaker, what they gave me was about six trees worth of every contract they have, which tells me nothing. It does not tell me what contracts were over budget and by how much. Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of information that should be readily available. It came up more than six months ago. I was also told in every written response how hard it was and how much work it was to provide that kind of basic, standard information.
If we are going to make good decisions, we need blue-chip information. I would hope this government would make a greater effort to provide basic information, and tell us in a clear way, and honour the promise they made for straight answers on simple questions. Thank you.