Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These days there is a constant tug-of-war in our Assembly for the money available for building and maintaining our schools, roads, airports and other infrastructure. It's further complicated, Mr. Speaker, in our consensus system of governing with the very legitimate expectations of departments and agencies, MLAs and Ministers, communities and regions, that everyone will get a share of the pie.
Let's face it. As MLAs, we all want to see something built, something improved, something new in each of our ridings and towns at least once in our four-year terms. But with a shrinking capital budget pegged this year at only $74 million, it's not a realistic or a sustainable expectation. How do we address it? How do we manage to do this to satisfy the ideal of fiscal fairness and yet deliver spending where and when it's most needed and get the best value for the taxpayers' dollar?
In previous Assemblies, Mr. Speaker, departments have had more or less a constant amount of dollars. After departments and MLAs and committees have worked out priorities, a letter was sent to mayors and chiefs. It was sent by the Premier to describe the spending initiatives planned for the coming year in each community. It invited comment, but no real input into planning. This changed somewhat with this Assembly. Now there is one pool of money the departments must share. For the past two years, a committee of deputy ministers has used a priority system rating safety or people and property first, to work out who gets how much money. Mr. Speaker, MLAs have been frustrated with this approach. It diminishes our voices and the voices of community and regional leaders in how capital dollars are spent. Informing the municipalities and regions after the decisions have been made is not the way to go. A suggestion I would like to make is that we look at a process where community leaders, MLAs and officials from the departments can all get together and create a spending plan that has everyone's interests in mind. Mr. Speaker, at one time I believe community governments were encouraged to prepare a multi-year community capital plan within their fiscal framework. This makes sense. To take the idea one step further, I would suggest that we only need to do this once every four years at the beginning of our terms, so we can reduce the annual spending scrimmage that takes up so much of our time and creates so much uncertainty and conflict at the community level and here in this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause