Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have fairly brief comments today. I did want to, however, acknowledge that in this particular budget, as in all budgets, both the main operating budget as well as capital, in consensus government we have an opportunity to engage in discussions that are, I think, expected, and that makes it, hopefully, more cordial than what it might be if it were what is a traditional minority government in southern Canada, or other parts of Canada rather. And because we expect the process to occur, there's some formalities to it. That doesn't mean the process doesn't improve. And in my view, Mr. Chair, I do hope the public is aware and knows that both sides of this House work together when it's budget time. Again, both in capital and in mains. And both parties on both sides of the House are trying to improve the process as well as improve the budget documents in each event.
So what I wanted to note today is two things. Firstly, I want to make sure there's appropriate recognition given to MLAs, past and present, who have mentioned ways to improve the capital planning process. This capital plan did see a different way by which we went about structuring that plan and creating some change, putting the cap on there, increasing access to planning funds and planning processes. And, Mr. Chair, while certainly that was something that was well known and thought about from this side and from within the departments, it is also something that MLAs have asked for over the years and certainly in my discussions with them over the last three years. So I do want to acknowledge that those kind of changes don't happy unilaterally or without knowing what the tenor might be coming from the other side. So certainly want to acknowledge that to the extent that I believe that those are significant improvements, those improvements happened because we worked as a collective and because we have a good consensus government here.
The second comment on that same vein, Mr. Chair, is that the discussions that we had this time were also a little bit different. We were able to sit down looking at the -- you know, a little bit more broadly at what the government is doing. Those discussions were fruitful. They were helpful. And while I'm not making -- you know, traditionally I'll often make commitments or specific commitments now, I'm not doing that here but that's not to say there wasn't a significant exchange of ideas and paths forward. And certainly I do have some work that I know I have committed to doing in those discussions and will be taking that seriously. And I appreciate that the Members have brought those ideas now broadly. Again, this is really ideally how consensus government works. We have the opportunity to have these conversations, to know what's coming both in the capital budget but also in mains, which certainly is impacting the -- they impact one another. They depend on one another. So those conversations were fruitful. I'm grateful for them and looking forward to this kind of continued process of open discussion, dialogue, being challenged but also being able to act on one another's ideas. Thank you, Mr. Chair.