Finance and Government Services - Issue No. 1

2001 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 37th Parliament
SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MINUTES AND HANSARD

Present: Blair Lekstrom (Chair), Tony Bhullar (Deputy Chair), Jeff Bray, Ralph Sultan, Harry Bloy, Kevin Krueger, Barry Penner, Brian Kerr, Lorne Mayencourt, Ida Chong, Joy MacPhail

1. The Clerk to the Committee presided over the election of the Chair.

2. Resolved, that Blair Lekstrom, MLA, serve as Chair of the Committee (K. Krueger, MLA)

3. Resolved, that Tony Bhullar, MLA, serve as Deputy Chair of the Committee (R. Sultan, MLA)

4. The Committee discussed its Terms of Reference relating to the matters of Pre-Budget consultation and Statutory Officers

5. The Committee adjourned at 2:15 p.m.

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS
(Hansard)

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON
FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Chair:	* Blair Lekstrom (Peace River South L)
Deputy Chair:	* Tony Bhullar (Surrey-Newton L)
Members:	* Harry Bloy (Burquitlam L) * Jeff Bray (Victoria–Beacon Hill L) * Ida Chong (Oak Bay–Gordon Head L) * Brian Kerr (Malahat–Juan de Fuca L) * Kevin Krueger (Kamloops–North Thompson L) * Lorne Mayencourt (Vancouver-Burrard L) * Barry Penner (Chilliwack-Kent L) * Ralph Sultan (West Vancouver–Capilano L) * Joy MacPhail (Vancouver-Hastings NDP) * denotes member present

Committee Staff:

Josie Schofield (Committee Research Analyst)
Audrey Chan (Assistant Researcher)

C. James: This being the first meeting of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, and being Clerk to the committee, I'll call for nominations to the Chair. Before doing so, I would just like to bring to the attention of members of this committee the recording apparatus that's currently in front of you — the microphones, speakers, red lights and on-air recording boxes that are at either end of the Douglas Fir Committee Room. When the light comes on on your particular microphone, you are in fact live. Committee proceedings are recorded and transcribed by Hansard. Behind me is the console operator, who does the switching. And behind that person, in the glass booth, are other Hansard personnel who attend to the actual recording. So just bear in mind that when your mike is live, it is live. It is being broadcast internally within the parliament buildings on television — I forget the actual channel — on audio portion only, for those out there who would be interested in following the proceedings.

Getting back to the fact that this is the first meeting of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, and there not being a Chairperson, I call for nominations for Chair.

C. James: Any further nominations? Any further nominations? Any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I presume Mr. Lekstrom accepts the nomination.

C. James: Then I'll put the question on the motion that Blair Lekstrom become Chair of this committee.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Thanks very much, Craig. It's certainly going to be an interesting time, until November 15 anyway. We have a tight time schedule. We will move on to item 2 of our agenda today, which is the election of a Deputy Chair. At this time I would call for nominations for that position.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Ida Chong has been nominated. Are there any further nominations for vice-Chair?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Tony Bhullar. Any further nominations? Calling once, twice, three times. I declare nominations closed for the position of vice-Chair. In reverse order: Tony, do you accept the nomination?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Thank you. We will, by way of show of hands, do the election process for the vice-Chair.

J. MacPhail: Sorry, but because I'm not part of the caucus, what are the various responsibilities that the two candidates have other than this?

I. Chong: Okay. First of all, I am Chair of the Government Caucus Committee on Government Operations, which includes the overview of a number of ministries related to finance. In addition, I am on this select standing committee as well as Crown Corporations and Public Accounts. I'm also a private member on Treasury Board.

I was on this committee last year as well, so I have knowledge of the obligations and responsibilities related to Finance and Government Services.

T. Bhullar: I'm on the Government Caucus Committee on Communities and Safety, and I'm on this committee as well as Public Accounts.

K. Krueger: Mr. Chair, I wonder if we could ask that the vote be conducted by secret ballot.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I was just going to ask that question to our Clerk. Being new to this, is it traditionally by a show of hands or on a secret ballot?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): We will, by consensus of the group, do a secret ballot on this.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay, we do have the tally conducted. I will proclaim Tony Bhullar as the vice-Chair of the Finance committee.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): A motion to destroy the ballots would be in order at this time. It is carried.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): We have now concluded our election of Deputy Chair to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. We will move on.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): This being our first meeting, I would like to put forward the terms of reference. Each member has a copy in front of them. If they've had an opportunity to review those terms of reference, I would at this time open it up for discussion on those terms, if there are any questions or comments.

J. MacPhail: I actually do, because I thought that others might be more engaged in this.

On the issue of the reports of the independent officers being referred to us, do you see, Mr. Chair, that this committee will actually approve the budgets? Or does our review get sent to Treasury Board?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I believe the intent — being the first time, it's my understanding, that this has been done in this manner — is that we would have the presentations put forward. We would look at the budgets as presented, and their mandates and plans put forward, and make recommendations, I would expect, to the Legislature. That's who we report to as a committee.

J. MacPhail: Okay. Well, this is confusing then, because it's a hybrid. The Minister of Finance has done something here that doesn't exist anywhere else. He has referred the budget and performance plans to this select standing committee, but there's no authority to sign off on the budgets. Other jurisdictions have people go directly either to Treasury Board or to the select standing committee, and the select standing committee approves budgets.

I note that that may prove to be a difficulty, because I certainly don't want to approve a budget, and I don't understand the work of the committee if the committee is just going to look at their budgets — not in any context. If the context is only that it then goes on to Treasury Board, I think that puts the members of the opposition at a distinct disadvantage, because we don't have access to Treasury Board. So I note that for the record.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay. Thank you, Joy. We can do some further work on this again, most people being here for the first time.

K. Krueger: I believe that the members of this committee are all also on the Public Accounts Committee, if that allays the member's concerns at all.

J. MacPhail: No, because Public Accounts is after the fact. Public Accounts reviews budgets that are a year old. I'm not objecting to this. The Minister of Finance ran this by me, and I said, "Sure, let's try it" — except that I didn't understand. I thought it might be the model by which we actually approve the budgets. Public Accounts doesn't alleviate the concern at all.

C. James: Just for clarification, it was my understanding that for these particular terms of reference, the statutory officers would appear before this committee and present their annual reports, performance plans, budgets and business plans for the following fiscal year. Of course, the annual reports are for the previous period of time. The committee would review these documents and budget proposals and make a recommendation to the Legislative Assembly, which would be contained in its report to the House.

But there are some circumstances which need to be kept in mind. One is that the budgets for the statutory officers that this committee may be recommending to the Legislative Assembly probably need to remain confidential until they are included in the estimates and the estimates are presented to the Legislature, as in the past with other votes, including vote 1.

J. MacPhail: So, Craig, is it your understanding that this committee would actually make recommendations that would eventually become public?

B. Penner: I just wanted to make the observation that this is a first step. It's something that hasn't been

done in British Columbia before, to my knowledge. That's having these legislative officers appear before a standing committee for scrutiny. It certainly wasn't done in the last ten years, and it's a step towards greater accountability of those officers to Members of the Legislative Assembly. I think the intention of this committee will be to see how it works. We'll give it a try, and we'll review the results.

J. MacPhail: It has nothing to do with the last ten years, so just try to leave that aside — okay? This is about a recommendation that some independent officers made about the way things are done in other jurisdictions. But this isn't a replica of how things were done in the last ten years or what is done in other jurisdictions. So it would be a step backward if independent officers came before this committee to have a show and then Treasury Board made the decision behind closed doors. That would be a step backward. That's the only thing that I'm trying to caution against.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): All right. On the terms of reference, is there any further discussion? Hopefully, most people are looking forward to this. It is something new. We're going to attempt to put things together. Certainly, as the Chair of this committee, I will be looking forward to it. We will look to British Columbians and will do our job. We can't change yesterday, so we are going to look to the future and do what we can for British Columbians. That's our duty as a legislative committee.

R. Sultan: Is the intent, then — if this seems to work out as we all hope — that we would go through this cycle and report in by November 15, 2001, and then repeat the exercise next August, reporting in the following November? This would be sort of an annual cycle?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Are you dealing with the terms of reference here on the auditor general, the chief electoral officer and so on? Is that your comment?

R. Sultan: Well, I'm looking at the terms of reference for the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. Or perhaps I'm confused.

R. Sultan: Perhaps you could explain it to me. I'm not very quick on the uptake here; my apologies.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): If I could just clarify for members of the committee, the committee actually has two distinct and separate terms of reference which have been conferred upon it by the House this past session. One happens to be the matter of having the statutory officers appear before it to review all these items that are listed in the initial terms of reference. The second terms of reference is separate and distinct from the first in that it is the prebudget consultation process, which has a deadline of November 15.

R. Sultan: I guess my question still stands, then. Are both of the separate exercises to be conducted on an annual basis?

J. MacPhail: On 1, the public consultation. What information will the committee be given to conduct these public consultations?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): We are going to set up at our second meeting — next Thursday is my hope…. We will have our Minister of Finance come in to give the prebudget consultation overview, and at that time we will carry forward from there.

R. Sultan: For planning purposes, when is it likely that we would have an actual schedule of forthcoming meetings and locations?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Item 4 on our agenda today is going to discuss that, as far as the meeting schedule. Our time frames, as noted, are very tight to be able to go out, meet with the people of British Columbia, produce a report and have it put together by November 15. We will have a fairly hectic schedule over the next couple of months.

Are there any other questions surrounding the terms of reference that are now under discussion?

J. MacPhail: Thank you for the information that the Minister of Finance will be briefing the committee. Is that an in-camera meeting, or is that a meeting on record? I have several requests for information that I would like to have considered by the committee before the prebudget consultations. I'd be happy to do that in writing to the Minister of Finance first. What I'm interested in knowing is: will we be getting information that's only public information, or will the committee actually be given a more in-depth briefing?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I'm not speaking for the minister at this time, but my understanding is that it would be a public meeting with the information being produced being fully public and accessible to them. I'm unaware of any in-camera sessions that have been scheduled. I would have to check on the suitability of that for a committee like this. I can definitely follow through and check. Right now, as it stands, our prebudget consultation update or presentation by the minister will be public at our next meeting.

I. Chong: Just perhaps by way of background, what occurred last year was that the Minister of Finance attended the meeting as a presenter, as a witness, and gave us a quick 20-minute overview of what he expected us to engage in as we travelled around the province, after which time we were given 20 minutes or so to ask questions of the Minister of Finance. It was entirely public and, as you know, on the Hansard transcript. I would imagine we would take the same process this year.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Any further questions or comments regarding the terms of reference under discussion right now?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay. We have moved by Kevin, seconded by Harry. By consensus, is there any objection to the terms of reference? They will be adopted, then. Thank you.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): We'll move on, on our agenda this afternoon. Item 4 is the committee meeting schedule, and this is one that I know is of significant importance and interest to the members around this room. I know many members are working in many different areas, and their schedules are tight. I have handed out the previous prebudget consultation paper outlining the locations that were visited during the last tour of the province. My preference — and I would throw it out — would be…. And I can use the northeast, for instance, an area I'm very familiar with…. Having noted that Fort St. John was visited last time for the prebudget consultation, I would think that Dawson Creek would be an appropriate move.

I would also like to hear from committee members on their views and ideas as to areas that possibly have been missed in the past or areas to which we should consider going. There are certain key areas that we will have to repeat: Prince George, the interior, Vancouver and Victoria, of course. Being familiar with northern areas, I know that far too often many areas are feeling left out because government seems to go back to the same areas time and time again. Hopefully, we'd be able to overcome that. I would open it up at this time for some discussion on that and input from my fellow members.

K. Krueger: In the institutional memory that we have here, were there any communities that objected to not having had meetings last time?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I'm unaware of any correspondence that we've received with objections because the committee didn't attend.

B. Penner: I'm just going to make a suggestion that a Fraser Valley meeting be scheduled in the Chilliwack area perhaps. The last time the meeting was in Mission. And I also note that the last time the committee travelled, they did not make a stop in Surrey. I was going to make a suggestion that that might be added to the itinerary.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay. It would be my intent…. What I would like members to do is have a look at the previous consultation paper, have a look at the areas of concern, forward ideas that you would have on areas for consideration that our committee should visit, and we will try and draft a committee schedule. If we can get that in early next week, if that's at all possible, I would like to have a rough outline for our next meeting, which I would like to call for Thursday of next week, the 13th. If the members can do that, I think we can certainly begin a preliminary schedule for discussion. Again, because time is of the essence, we aren't going to have a lot of time to sit and put schedules together. We're going to have to act fairly quickly on this and carry forward that way.

R. Sultan: The thing that strikes me in looking at the previous schedule of meetings is that while it has great geographic diversity, it doesn't really come close to representing where the people live in this province, in my opinion. Perhaps, if we're seeking a representative cross-section of opinion, we might try a little bit more to approximate population centres. My colleague has mentioned Surrey, Richmond…. I could go on, but I'd be getting too close to home, I suppose.

I think, just on that note, that it would be nice if we could attend every community and hear every single person that was wanting to get there. Unfortunately, the reality of what we're dealing with here doesn't allow us to do that. We will have submissions available by e-mail, written submissions that the public can put in as well. Hopefully, people will take us up on that, with the ability and the technology out there. But I'm sure there are going to be places, when this is all over, that people would have liked us to visit but that we just won't have had the time or ability to get to.

H. Bloy: I wanted to follow up with Ralph. When you look at just two in Vancouver, are they in Vancouver proper, or are you talking about the lower mainland? Now, I will submit in writing, but….

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I guess I would be showing my ignorance somewhat, as a northerner. When I talk

about Vancouver, I'm referring to the lower mainland. I'll correct myself on that.

J. MacPhail: Do you anticipate having any meeting with groups by demographic as opposed to region? For instance, I'm thinking of seniors or young people. I'm wondering how the government is going to get input from those groups, because there's no separate responsibility by minister for those particular areas. Do you anticipate doing that?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I think the key is, through our communications, to get it out there — where we will be available. Also, there's the fact that these groups can put in submissions via e-mail or via writing to either myself or Craig, and we'll coordinate that. I'm somewhat hesitant to extend invitations to certain groups for fear of missing others. I know that in the past, my experience has been that when I've been involved in different areas, I've extended invitations to some and missed others, and certainly great exception was taken by the groups that weren't invited.

We're going to be as open and accessible as possible. That is a commitment I will give as the Chair. Again, as the Chair, I look to our committee members, as well, for guidance and direction from your wisdom. But the ability to meet individually with groups, if that's what you're referring to…. We will be as open as possible.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): We are going to talk on a communications strategy through newspapers, radio. Certainly, I think there are a number of groups that are going to attend. I have put some thought into this, and I would run this by the presenters from the last prebudget consultation. I think we would be wise to contact them, as well, to let them know that we are going to be doing another tour. Once we have our schedule set up, I would like to forward that. Certainly, through the media is going to be a key.

L. Mayencourt: It looks like there are about 15 actual meetings that are public, which people come to. Is that the number you want to hit, in terms of our committee going out and being on the road? Is that the idea?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Yeah, right in that range — 15 to 18, I think, if we could accommodate that and put those meetings together. Certainly, once we have the information and the input from yourselves back to us on your requests and priorities…. I would encourage you when you do put in requests as far as locations…. If you could prioritize them, it would help a great deal. Knowing the number of us sitting here, I think we're going to have well over 18 requests as far as locations. We're going to do the best we can to make sure we cover the entire province and allow full public input.

I. Chong: If I may, by way of background, I think the process we followed last year may not have been perfect, but it worked fairly well. And to alleviate the concerns of some of the members on this committee…. When we approached areas, we did take a look at the population base. That's why you see, in Vancouver, there were two, because the request for people to meet was that great. The idea was that people would try to find a location as close as possible in that area.

In addition, the presenters that came to the committee were scheduled, I believe, every 15 or 20 minutes, so we were seeing as many as 20 presenters in a day. We would start early in the morning and go well into the evening so that groups who had to work during the day could accommodate evening meetings, and others who perhaps had more flexibility in their schedule were able to come in during the day. In addition, some areas, for obvious reasons, were booked up a lot quicker than others. I've even known of some people who drove to another area where there were still spots available where they were able to present.

As the Chair has already indicated, I'm sure we're going to make every possible opportunity for people to submit. The publication, as I recall, that went out last year for public input was that people could send submissions to the Clerk's office by way of e-mail or by written submissions that they wanted to present. They were given, as well, a deadline as to when they would submit those presentations so that we could get our report out by a certain time.

While the process last year may not have been perfect, I didn't hear that there were a lot of complaints. We did try to reach the geographic regional areas as best as possible. My only recommendation, Mr. Chair, for the record, is that we maintain the same geographic areas but then, as you indicated, choose a different city than was chosen last time. I think we will have done our best to try to accommodate all those areas over the course of the two years that this committee has gone out for prebudget consultations.

I would like to put something forward regarding our committee meeting schedule. If by Tuesday of next week at the latest we could have the input from the committee members on their requests, by next Thursday's meeting I could have a draft committee schedule as well as a draft budget presented for consideration of this committee, and we could take the next step, if that's acceptable.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Areas that I talked about under the prebudget consultation paper of last year — if there are other areas that weren't….

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Yes, geographic or even individual locations that you're aware of. As I indicated earlier, for instance, the northeast traditionally is split up, the larger centres being Dawson Creek and Fort St. John. If one was attended for one function, the next time it went to the other city. It allows the surrounding area, particularly in the north, to be able to draw in and not always have to travel one way. I would just ask for that consideration from the members.

B. Penner: I have a question for Ida Chong. Do you recall whereabouts in Vancouver the two meetings were held last year?

I. Chong: The meetings were both held at a hotel in Vancouver, so people drove in. One was on Broadway; I can't remember what hotel that was. I think it was the Holiday Inn. The other was held, I think, at the Century Plaza. That second meeting was convened strictly for that purpose. The one in Vancouver that was held the first afternoon, I believe, started at 2:30 and went until 9 or 10 o'clock that evening. But because of the wait-list of so many people wanting to speak, we held an extra meeting on Monday, October 27, which happened to be also federal election day. So I recall that happening. We started out at 11 o'clock, I believe, and went until 4 o'clock on that day. That was an extra meeting.

B. Penner: So both of those meetings were held in Vancouver proper — not in Coquitlam, Burnaby, Delta, Richmond, Surrey or North Vancouver.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Also of note would be that many times the presenters notify us; they put forward that they would like to make a presentation. I would like to have the ability, as this committee — and I will throw it out there for discussion with the members — to leave a half-hour at the end of every meeting for members of the public who show up who may not have submitted a written submission or who, after listening to what's taken place at our meetings, have some things they would like to add to it. I would throw that out for discussion at this time.

I. Chong: Where we had scheduled presenters last year who did not show up on time or who ended up not using their spots, we would just move up the next person that was there. And if we finished earlier than our scheduled time — if we said we'd be in a location until 10 o'clock and we finished at a quarter after nine — I think the Chair did say that anyone in the audience who wished to speak and make a presentation could come forward. That happened on a number of occasions.

However, with the travel time, at some points we were packing up and leaving at 11 o'clock and getting to another location by midnight to be ready for the next morning. If we allowed for it without some structure, I think it would cause a problem with our travel arrangements and weather conditions that could occur. So I would suggest that if we are to open it up, it be because we've gone to our scheduled time. I would not necessarily pack up early, but I wouldn't go beyond that, because it could end up problematic.

While I have the floor, if I could just ask the Chair what the considerations would be as to when we would actually start travelling. I know we'll meet next week, but can the Chair at this time advise whether the committee will start travelling in September or not until October?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): A couple of things, Ida. Just touching on the first one, on my comment about the half-hour, it certainly wouldn't be an extended half-hour in that sense. It would be, if we were sitting until nine or until seven — whatever the times would be — that the last half-hour, if it was 8:30 to 9, would be open for public comment on that. So we wouldn't be stretching it out and carrying on that way.

As far as the travel schedule, we are going to put that together and hopefully will have a tentative one. I would say that in very early October, we would have to be out and on the road.

H. Bloy: I like the concept of the public being able to speak, but I think you should schedule it in as one of the presenters, not as the last half-hour, because at that point you could already be running an hour late. So when the meetings are set up, if they run from two to nine, then at 8 o'clock or until 8:30 there's a half-hour for questions from the floor. It's a set part of the presentation.

L. Mayencourt: I was just going to say that if we know of some places where there is a huge demand and people really want to talk to us, maybe we could…. Obviously Vancouver sounded like it needed to. If there are people coming from a long distance, where are they coming from? If there's some history already, let's draw on that and schedule them with adequate time for enough presentations.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Also, just going back to our next week's meeting, talking about the draft budget and the draft committee schedule, I believe that we can put forward a communications strategy, as well, on how we will contact the people of British Columbia to participate in this process. I will strive to make sure that is put forward, as well, on that agenda.

J. MacPhail: Will anybody else in government besides this committee be doing prebudget consultations?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Not that I'm aware of. We are mandated by the Legislature as a legislative committee

to do the prebudget consultation. It's my understanding that that is the job of this committee, and that's all I'm aware of.

J. MacPhail: It has also been a practice of Finance ministers to do individual prebudget consultations with members of the business community and the labour community. I only raise this because if those consultations are going on through the Minister of Finance or whoever or maybe the Minister of Health Services…. I see he's making some budget announcements today. I would ask you, Mr. Chair, to seek to be part of those budget consultations, as well, so that it's a fully integrated process.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): I will check into that and certainly be able to comment on that at the next meeting.

Any other discussion regarding the committee meeting schedule? I know it's very early yet, but it will be a full job between now and next week to put this together. We'll be able to have a full discussion at that time. I see no other discussion on item 4. We will move on to item 5, which is any other business to be brought forward by committee members at this time.

I. Chong: The only thing is on the meeting next Thursday. Have you tentatively got a time that you can have in this room when we're going to be meeting?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Yes, I do. I was looking for a 1:30 p.m. meeting on September 13, if that's acceptable to the members.

B. Kerr: Excuse me. I've got a meeting from 9 o'clock to 2 o'clock for the core review, so I can attend after that. If we could maybe start the meeting at 2 p.m., then I'd just be a few minutes late.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay. Is that a concern for any other members? Certainly my schedule is very flexible, and I'll work around the needs of the members. We'll strive to do that. I will have a look at it. I know the minister is scheduled to give us our prebudget consultation. I think I will have to check with the minister to make sure that it will fit. If it doesn't, we'll contact you.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Okay. I'll find out what's taking place there. What I will do is tentatively right now, if it's acceptable, schedule it for 1:30 p.m. because of the minister's involvement in that. If the ability is there to change this to a 2 o'clock meeting, you'll be so informed. But we will slate it for 1:30 p.m. at this time.

B. Penner: I'd just like to congratulate you on your election as Chair and also to extend my congratulations to the Deputy Chair, Mr. Bhullar.

B. Lekstrom (Chair): Thank you. The one thing we will do on this is that we want to make sure we hear what the people have to say. It's a big job. It's my first step into this. I know there are some members here that have participated before. As serious a job as it is, I think that we have to have the ability to smile and look at the bright side, although the financial picture in our province isn't looking that great right now. The real job we have to do is hear from British Columbians, hear what their priorities are and take that back and put together a report that we can submit to the Legislature.

I'm looking forward to this. I'm open. Any questions from any members, concerns or ideas that you have, feel free to contact me. I will make sure that all members have information regarding my telephone numbers here at the Legislature, my cell and my home number. I'm looking forward to this.

With no other business, I would look for a motion to adjourn at this time. Thank you. Moved by Ida, seconded by Jeff.

R. Sultan: Chairman, can you give us your e-mail address? Have you given it to us somewhere?

B. Lekstrom (Chair): What I will do is forward a copy with all of my information on it to every member, including my e-mail address as well.



CONTENTS

		Page

Election of Chair and Deputy Chair		1

Terms of Reference		2

Meeting Schedule		4

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS (Hansard)

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS
(Hansard)

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON
FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES