Merci, Monsieur le President. I know I'm the only thing that stands between the Members and their lunch but I do owe it to my constituents and the public to explain how I'm going to vote on this bill.
This bill, what it does -- or what happened, of course, is that about 50 percent of the capital spending for 2022-2023 was not spent. The authorized capital was not spent. So what this does would increase capital spending by about $125 million pushing it to levels higher than five of the last six years and so the over budgeting that's happening here for capital, I can't support this. What it does is requires us to run a larger operational surplus than we probably need to be doing and thus less spending on programs and services that directly benefit our residents in areas like health care and education.
Mr. Speaker, I'd also observe that it's probably not good practice where sups are tabled in the House and voted on the same day. We managed to avoid it this time but I would not recommend that that happen in the future because I think the public deserves to know what's in a sup before we actually vote on it.
I was disappointed at the lack of clear answers from the Minister and staff that required a lengthy statement in Committee of the Whole yesterday with no notice or copies provided in advance to Members. For all these reasons, I will not be voting in favour of this supplementary appropriation and fully expect that the next Assembly will be asked to approve massive carryovers again about a year from now. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.