Expenditures on behalf of Members, not previously authorized, $349,000.

Okay. Total department, not previously authorized, $477,000.

Okay. Are we agreed we’re concluded the Legislative Assembly?

Alright. We’ll move on to the Executive. Executive, operations expenditures, Ministers’ offices, not previously authorized, negative $257,000.

Okay, we are agreed. Total department, not previously authorized, negative $257,000.

Okay. Page 5, Human Resources, operations expenditures, human resource strategy and policy, not previously authorized, $123,000.

We are agreed. Okay. Employee services, not previously authorized, $617,000. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Going back to what had been posted in previous Assemblies in terms of what’s been tabled in terms of supplementary in that area, that number keeps recurring time and time again in the tune of a little over a half a million dollars year in and year out for supplemental. Can the Minister, again, we talk about forced growth and predicting dental needs. I mean, there’s a certain pattern. If we’re not growing our employee base by that much and we know that there’s a delicate balance between full-time and part-time workers, aren’t we able to make better predictions and then not be having to come back time and time again with roughly the same amount of money all the time, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Kalgutkar.

Thank you, Mr. Kalgutkar. Mr. Dolynny.

No further questions. Thank you.

Okay, any other questions on employee services? Okay, employee services, not previously authorized, $617,000.

Total department, human resources, not previously authorized, $740,000.

Alright, Members, we will move on to page 6, Finance, operations expenditures, deputy minister’s office, not previously authorized, $2.082 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is an example of the sorts of management we could be doing to avoid these sorts of ongoing costs. I’m not satisfied with the earlier discussion, nor would I like to see this just provided in the budget on a routine basis. These costs are nothing short of ridiculous in this day and age. We insist on subsidizing energy costs and utility costs more and more, rather than dealing with them and reducing the costs. This is $2 million plus, Madam Chair, for the two items and I understand that the FMB has

asked the Housing Corporation to report on how they are managing their energy costs.

Unfortunately this is a reflection of the government as a whole. Our opportunities to address these pass by year after year and we keep paying through the nose. Fortunately some of our residents and some of our businesses are finally moving out on their own and removing themselves from the system, providing their own energy, which of course makes our costs even greater and less efficient. So that is a big question, but the heating fuel, $600,000-plus, electricity $1 million-plus, these are big sums of money, Madam Chair, and they could easily put in infrastructure such as, for example, distributed energy systems and a distributed energy grid whereby people could start contributing to the grid and reducing costs.

There’s also very, very little that we’re doing to encourage energy conservation and so on, provide alternative, but cheaper forms of energy. I just don’t see the commitment of this government to that and I see a willingness to continue to just pay the piper on these things. So I guess, you know, what can we say? We can only bang our heads against a brick wall so much and I’m willing to butt my head even more this time around. So I’ll leave it at that.