Thank you, Madam Chair. I accept your caution, and I offer any apologies that are needed. I know Mr. Vician is a man of integrity and proven record, and I feel like I can speak very frankly with him, and he is here speaking on behalf of the Minister, but if I stepped on any toes there, I apologize. I will try and come up with another word other than baloney.
Obviously, lots of things to discuss here. Another issue that I wanted to speak about was the geoscience office. Now, I know we’re proposing – I don’t think it’s obvious here, the way the budget is laid out, of course – another $650,000 on to this office. Now, I was down in the Great Hall here, a few metres behind the Minister not too long ago when they were announcing a big program, a $2 million-plus program joint between federal and territorial government. This office is a subsidy to the mineral industry. It’s a subsidy that is not uncommon across the country, but we are intending to approach things as if our 42,000 people can act like, you know, three million or whatever in Alberta, or whatever it is. I think we have to be pretty cautious here.
I’d like to ask the Minister how the heck we can afford this, after a recent lavish bump-up for this office and what exactly is that $650,000 for. Thank you.