Mr. Speaker, it begs the question why do we even approve any budget if we know this? There are 571 vacancies the government is actively pursuing, but we can only find 100 on-line. We know, at the end of the day, no matter what we approved as the budget, the deputy ministers can go do an end run and move the money over to projects they want. So the reality is when the Legislature makes the decision, it just seems to be a waste of anyone’s time, including Cabinet and
certainly the public. With jobs being denied to Northerners, this just doesn’t sit well.
Explain why we’re here if the deputy ministers can go change the budget at their will beyond the Legislature’s approval. Thank you.