Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that I have a habit of repeating things in this House, but only if I think that it's worth repeating, Mr. Speaker. So I'd like to just take this opportunity to clarify, in case there is any confusion out there, exactly why I'm so appalled at the government's proposal to open the second Legal Aid office at the Centre Square Mall.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing wrong with the mall. I just want that to be clear. They got a good deal and good on them. What I'm only interested in is the government's actions in this regard. Mr. Speaker, I must say, when I first heard of this idea in a private committee meeting, a red flag went up inside of my head thinking what a bad political move this was. Then as I got more details, this picture is getting worse all the time. This seems to be a perfect picture case of how government sometimes stops thinking and loses sight of the objectives.

Mr. Speaker, I have fought hard in the last Assembly for more money for legal aid and I was told over and over that unless the federal government helped us, we couldn't really do more. So now that we've finally got some extra dollars, I want to see it go to dealing with the problem, not to waste it frivolously. I want to see that money go to mothers with children who are looking for spousal and child support, for example. I believe, Mr. Speaker, this is our job on this side of the floor.

Mr. Speaker, it is simply wrong, in my humble opinion, for the government to rent a shoe store knowing that it has to spend a whole lot of money to turn it into an office. That is called a waste, Mr. Speaker, and we can't, as a Legislature, look at government waste squarely in the eye and just blink to see if it will go away.

Mr. Speaker, just last week Mr. Roland admitted, in an ever so pitiful way, that he did not have one extra dollar in our situation of restraint to hire extra payroll staff required to take care of the backlog of the retroactive pay for correctional officers for almost an entire year. But apparently he has money to rent a shoe store and pay the money necessary to turn it into an office and pay for all the extra costs. I'm sure, Mr. Speaker, there are many Members here who could think of a few projects they could use in their riding for the money that it would take to turn this into an office.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.