Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, when we were elected, we sat down here, all 19 of us, we sat in the conference room out there and we talked about what we wanted to do. Those who wanted to put their names forward for Cabinet talked about what they wanted to do. We talked about a top down approach. My background is corporate. Certainly, you know, I feel that in order for real change to happen, it has to happen from the top down. You have to have that leadership. We can't keep doing the things we've always done and expect a different result. We know that. It's been said many times. And, you know, and that was a conversation everybody said yes, I want to get in there and I am going to make these changes. We know we've had problems. This is -- the last government had problems. You know, they left some problems that we've had to deal with. And that personally is what I wanted to see.

In the first part of our term here, you know, I wasn't necessarily seeing that. And I said, listen, you know, I want -- I don't -- I want it to be driven by us. I want it to be driven by the people that we've elected to govern. I want Cabinet Ministers to take information from the committees that we have, from Members on this side of the House as well, and to take that and implement those changes.

So, Mr. Chair, what tools do we have if we don't feel that that's being done? Well, one of the tools we have in our toolbox is our ability obviously to vote on budgets. Now, it's not lost on me that in this case we're actually asking for operational change but we're voting on a capital budget. The main estimate budgets, the operations budget, we voted on three months ago. But we weren't happy with where we were so we're to take this opportunity, this is a tool we have to kind of go back and, you know, obviously you -- everyone has heard the report we read. I actually did a Member's statement on that as well that we need to see change before we can support this.

You know, we talk about course correction. We've had -- you know, we talk about real change. We've had, you know, what I think is significant briefings between the report and now, we've had many meetings obviously with Ministers, and we've been given commitments in those meetings, you know, what they want to do to change that. And the question is, I guess, from our side is are we willing now to say fine, has this message been heard, us doing -- you know, us submitting that report, has it been heard, and are you willing to take it now to say, listen, this is the information -- this is how we want you to govern. We want you to take some bold steps and do some bold things and change the course.

Now, we've heard in -- again, through those committee meetings and through those briefings that that is what this government is willing to do. It's going to remain to be said. So as we move forward, you know, we will -- we're one year in; we have three years left to go, we have a lot of work to do. We know that. I mean, I'm not 100 percent satisfied in everything I heard. There were certain things that were said and certain ideas that were brought to me that kind of gave me some, I guess, comfort that perhaps they are listening and perhaps we will get some of this work done. I'm not really interested personally there was -- you know, the capital budget is $300 million. Again, we're making -- we're asking for operational changes on the capital budget. There are things in that capital budget that are important that we need to move forward as well. I do not disagree housing is one of our main priorities, our top priority, but there are other priorities as well, and there are things in this capital budget that I want to see move forward. So that's not lost on me as well, Mr. Chair.

You know, so the question I ask myself is am I willing to allow Cabinet to follow through on the commitments that they've said they would do, and then of course I will, as I'm sure my colleagues will as well, make sure that we're holding them to account as we move forward. This is not the only time we'll get to vote on a budget in this sitting in this legislature. It's only the second time we've gotten to do it. So am I willing to do that? And that's the question, Mr. Chair, that I ask myself when I move forward, do I want to see this budget pass so we can get some of these important capital projects moving forward and has my message been heard or our message been heard that, you know what, there are tools in our toolbox we can use to hold this government to account and to make sure that change is being implemented from the top down as we anticipated -- as we all said we we do when we sat 19 of us together when we first got elected and continue to do that, Mr. Chair.

So I will be supporting the capital budget as it moves forward. I'm in a position now, and I will be holding this government account as we moved forward when we get these important projects going, and I look forward to the next main estimates as well where I'm hoping we're going to see some changes to both health and housing in that budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.