On several occasions the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight was frustrated when the government announced major initiatives without a process that included consultation with committee. When this happened, the committee generally wrote the Premier, pointing out the oversight. Invariably, the Premier would write back promising to work more closely with committees, and to try to avoid similar incidents again. However, it seemed that in a few months we would come up against a similar situation.

Of course the repetitive nature of this lack of consultation led to more and more frustration, and a growing sense the government was not sincere in its approach to consensus government. We finally set up a process whereby the Premier met with committee on a monthly basis. While this improved the level of communication between the government and committee, there were still occasions Members felt the government moved ahead on initiatives or legislation before adequate consultation had taken place.

Mr. Speaker, Members feel that one way the communication and consultation process could be improved would be to strengthen the protocol for policy proposals to be referred to standing committees similar to the process in place for legislative proposals. Members of the 15th Assembly may want to discuss the establishment of a protocol that would ensure committees have input into policy initiatives in their early stages before significant departmental resources are committed to their development.