“This Monday, in the final hour before the public account books were due to be published, we saw the King government release evidence of its inability to accurately forecast.
“These records showed that this government profited from inflation, overspent their departmental budgets by $72 million, and announced that they will give just a fraction of a surplus back to the people whose money it was to begin with.
“I was surprised to see that the Department of Fisheries and Communities received and spent the least amount of money than any other department (excluding executive council) out of the COVID contingency fund.
“In fact, his department received $606,000 less, or 50 per cent less, than the second least-funded department to support programs and initiatives in the community.
“I see this as a missed opportunity, especially for our older adults in rural PEI who often look to their municipalities for events and opportunities to gather and socialize… activities that were sorely missed by residents during the first few years of the pandemic.
“My constituents are anxious to get back to these activities their local municipalities could have created or expanded in a safe manner, but evidently, the Minister did not advocate for them.”
Hal Perry, MLA
Tignish-Palmer Road