It must be wonderful to have all these resource people. We’ve just started here and we’re up to quite a few people. I wonder if there’s been any consideration to providing the same level of support, or even maybe a tenth of that, for this side of the House for our committee staff, who are

certainly hardworking people and haven’t changed in numbers, to my knowledge, for quite some time.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly, we will put in a good word to the Board of Management. I think it’s very important to have good information to help make good decisions. We’d be happy to share our information with the committee so that they get the benefit of all the information the government has. Thank you.

I appreciate the Premier’s commitment there, and I’d love to be copied on the letter to the Board of Management. I hope to see that very soon.

In terms of the program evaluation, I think that is an important role. We have been talking about that in committees and I think, actually, we probably picked that up not only from our own observations but from the repeated calls from the Auditor General’s office for those sorts of activities. That is a very valid role, and I assume that that’s part of the work that they’re doing for these various committees of Cabinet and so on.

I wonder if I can get any more detail on the red tape. What’s the direction on the red tape that’s being asked to be reduced? Just to help me understand what’s happening on that front. Thank you.

This is something that has been a priority of this government. We work very closely with the Canadian Association of Small Businesses that see red tape as a hindrance to making progress, so we are working through our Refocusing Government Committee of Cabinet. Mr. Chair, I’d like to ask the chair of that committee to provide further information. I’d ask the Minister of Finance to provide more detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. We’ll continue this with the Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The red tape initiative is going to have two focuses. One focus is going to be, of course, internal within government, and to look for those types of improvements that will speed up processes, in terms of paper, steps required, things that maybe haven’t been reviewed in many years. The one where we think there’s an opportunity to do good work is, as the Premier indicated, we’ve consistently been ranked very low by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, for example, in terms of the red tape. We think some of that is tied into the federal government, but we want to work with independent business folks, we want to work with the chambers, communities to get some very specific feedback on what and where they see the blocks, the red tape that everybody complains

about when dealing with government. We intend to move forward here as we’re through this budget process and we get geared up for the rest of this fiscal year to start that process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Committee, page 2-21, Executive, activity summary. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your patience. One last one just to cap that off. I know Ms. Bisaro, I think, asked about this, but will we… Let me rephrase that. I’m sure that committee will have an early opportunity for input on the terms of reference for looking into the red tape aspect. Could I just get that confirmed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, through our protocol that we’re working out with the committees, we definitely will make sure that happens. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. Page 2-21, Executive, activity summary, executive operations, operations expenditure summary, $6.756 million. Does committee agree?

Page 2-22, Executive, activity summary, executive operations, grants and contributions, grants, total grants $350,000. Contributions, total grants and contributions, $350,000. Committee agree?

Page 2-26. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I noticed the Native Women’s Association grant-in-kind took a bit of a hit there, a 70 percent hit or whatever. Also, the Native Women’s Association funding has increased, not quite as much. Can I just get an idea about what’s transpiring there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Native Women’s Association is moving and so the money is moved from a contribution to a grant, I believe. It’s the same dollar amount; it’s just how it’s broken out. Thank you.

Page 2-26, Executive, activity summary, Cabinet support, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $92,000. Contributions, total contributions, $731,000. Total grants and contributions, $823,000. Does committee agree?