Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the issue of gridlock, when we hit gridlock, if you talk to a number of departments they would say that we are already at that stage. The capital program we approve on an annual basis does not permit us to deal with all the requests departments put in. The process would work as we do our business planning and look at our capital program. The projects that would be approved by this Assembly, we would go back to the drawing board in the sense of a capital program that may have been approved. If there isn't an actual contract tie to that project, it would go back into the mix as we review the capital projects on an annual basis as we prepare our business plans. On that basis, departments would have to then justify if that project can stay in. That goes through a number of working groups in departments, then a deputy minister review, and then it would come to the FMB table for final review before me preparing and coming into this House for final approval.
The situation we would have, and have now, is when departments feel that they have a high enough priority project that does not get the funding, it would get what we call red flagged and would be addressed to the next level. We would review that to see if we should try to find the money to improve or increase our capital program, or if we would bump another project off that program to fit something that is now more critical. That's the situation we've been in for awhile. Yes, the amount of carryover that we do ties up the dollars available. If we don't proceed with those, there is less and less wiggle room or room for new projects to be put on the books and that is a growing problem that we are going to have to deal with. We are going to have to find a way of either moving along with some of these projects or deferring them because, for one reason or another, they are not at the stage that was anticipated.
For example, if a department had requested funds for a specific project and that project then gets a change from the department aspect, they want to change some of the work that's happening in a renovation or adding to a new facility, that would go back to the drawing board, or if this Assembly directs a Minister to review the plan or take a look at for Health how to deal with the master plan, that would affect the capital plan.
That's the situation we find ourselves in. Yes, it's a growing problem we are going to have to deal with. The more we continue to carry things forward, the less that gets done in the sense of projects being completed. We must also realize many of our projects are into the multimillion dollars and would require a multi-year commitment as we move forward, whether it's health facilities, education facilities or some of our larger municipal infrastructure. Thank you.