Thank you. Mr. Kalgutkar.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am trying to reconcile contracting out the management of our Heritage Fund with the mandate commitment that talks about stronger public governance. How is contracting out the management to a third party going to meet this mandate commitment of stronger public governance? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is, from what I have been told, this was raised during discussions at business plans in the Department of Finance's proposed budget. As far as the third party goes, I think the Member in particular has been asking for the last few years that this be something that -- I mean, we were talking about public governance. Maybe that is the next step, but, for now, it has gone out for an RFP to have somebody administer it on our behalf, is my understanding. The public governance part, I will have to have a discussion with the official. I am not sure if that is the next step in this, and we just want to make sure we don't over-govern the Heritage Fund.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, well, although I believe in stronger public governance of the Heritage Fund, it is not me saying this. This was direction from the Legislative Assembly. The mandate was accepted. It was voted on in this House, and now the department has gone off and contracted out the management of our Heritage Fund. I can assure you I did not hear that when I sat in on the business plan review for this department, so this comes as very much a surprise to me, that we are contracting out the management of our Heritage Fund. Can the Minister provide me any sort of assurance that there is actually going to be any public governance now, of the Heritage Fund, in the future? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, my understanding is that this issue was raised during the business plans. Maybe it was missed. I mean I don't know the situation with that. Then it is going to go out for an RFP for third party. There will be a lot of accountability on this. The public will have a lot of opportunity to see. It is not like we are tucking this away. I believe in public accountability, too, and public governance, and that is what we are doing in here. I have been here for a while, so I am very familiar with public governance. Anyway, I am going to stop there, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. If I recall correctly, the last time there was a discussion about this, it was about changing the regulations that defined how the money in the Heritage Fund can be invested to make it so that the fund might actually start to earn money instead of losing money by having some perhaps more liberal investment policies around it. That is what we were told. Now, all of a sudden, I find out that the management is going to get contracted out. How do we go from changing regulations about the investment of the fund to contracting out its management without a Regular MLA, standing committee, and the public knowing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not going to get into a debate on this. This was raised in September. If the Member missed it, he missed it. There was plenty of time from September to now to find out if this was in there or not and raise the concerns that he had. I am going to find out. There may have been more information off the officials, but it is my understanding. I think the Member wants a big, 12-person, public board to oversee this money. Then we have to start putting money away into the Heritage Fund, and we will determine how we are going to use it. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do not appreciate the Minister speculating or impugning some kind of motives to me on this issue. This is serious. I sat in on the departmental business plan review. This did not get discussed. This was not. This is the first time that I, as a Regular MLA, am finding out that the department is going to contract out the management of our Heritage Fund. This is a serious matter, Mr. Chair, and I don't appreciate the Minister saying that my view is that there should be a 12-person board and trying to impugn that I might want to sit on it or something. That is ridiculous. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't assume anything. If I have something to say, I will say it, and then I do, and some people may not like that. I'm sorry. That is just the way it is. I can assure the Member and all Members of this House that everything we do we do in an open and transparent manner, because you have nothing to gain by not doing it. This is public money. This is a Heritage Fund, so, if we need to have a discussion more on the RFP and the situation there and if the Member missed a briefing or if he didn't catch it, then I suppose it should be on me, as Finance Minister, to fill him in and give him the details on the proposal going forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. I just want to point out and caution here, to all Members, that we respect one another. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Deputy Minister Stewart. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. So, the remaining $11.9 million that is going to the public, can the witnesses explain how that is going to be divvied up? I see that it is intended to reduce the impact of the carbon tax for heating fuel, industrial emitters, electricity generation, and the cost of living, so can I get a breakdown of where the $11.9 million is going? Thank you, Mr. Chair.