Mr. Chairman, again to clarify, what we did to each department, to be fair, is ask them to identify their controllable expenditures and then take 10 percent of that. So in the case of RWED, as a department, their controllable expenditures were $17,236,000. They were asked to come up with $1,724,000, or 10 percent. Then how they chose to divide it up among the activities is up to them. In many ways, Mr. Chairman, I'm glad that they didn't just take it all out of forest fire management because that is just a holding figure. We know full well they could take it out and then in the case of a bad fire season, come and ask us for supplementary money and that wouldn't be fair to the other departments. We don't know each year how much we are going to spend, but we do know if we have a bad fire season, we have to provide the money. In terms of reducing this amount and budgeting differently, I am open to doing that if there is a better way of budgeting for something as unpredictable as forest fires. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Joe Handley on Bill 18: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 1, 2003-2004
In the Legislative Assembly on June 12th, 2003. See this statement in context.
Bill 18: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 1, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
June 12th, 2003
Page 1048
See context to find out what was said next.