Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak about this government's approach to expenditure reductions. Mr. Speaker, the budget presented by the Minister of Finance today is far leaner than we have seen for some time, and it is a result of a strategy to achieve a $20 million reduction. From what I understand about the processes to achieve this target, Mr. Speaker, each department and Minister was initially asked to identify ways to cut their spending in their department by three percent. It was an across-the-board exercise for all departments.

Mr. Speaker, this approach just doesn't make sense to me. All government departments and programs are not equally critical to meeting the needs of our people. It is wrong to treat them as if they were. Some programs, where and how they are delivered, can have serious ramifications. As elected officials, it is our responsibility to manage public funds with principles of good stewardship with the big picture in mind.

The Finance Minister referred to an analogy between our budget and a household budget. I don't think the Finance Minister would approach cutting his personal household budget by a percentage across the board. If he needed to save 10 percent, would it be 10 percent of his heating bill, 10 percent of his phone bill, dentist bill, kids' school supplies, 10 percent off of groceries, 10 percent off of holidays? Of course not. That would be ridiculous. He would prioritize, look at where there were expenditures, where cuts would not negatively erode the wellbeing of the entire household. Likewise, he wouldn't devote resources to prosper one member of his family to the demise and harm of another. He would want to be fair. We need to bring fairness to all people, communities and regions in the North. You wouldn't take programs from one region and give them to another and justify it by saying it had the least impact.

My point, Mr. Speaker, is that we need to use common sense and fairness when looking for budget reductions. Otherwise, we are going to recklessly dismantle what has taken us years to build and, in the process, hurt people who depend on us to make decisions on their behalf. I will be speaking at length and in detail about some of these reductions in the days ahead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause