Premier Pat Binns today tabled responses to more than 1,200 written questions which the Leader of the Opposition brought to the Legislative Assembly on March 30, 2001. The Premier also conveyed, for the information of Members of the Assembly, an estimated cost to the Island taxpayer in compiling the 1,200 responses.
"An incredible amount of staff time and resources, which could easily have been dedicated to providing important services, have been utilized by departments over the course of the past four weeks. Islanders will weigh, at the end of the day, if this was an appropriate use of government resources," said Premier Binns.
The Premier noted that this particular government's record of answering written questions has compared quite well with previous governments. Since 1997, the Binns Government has answered an unprecedented 2,200 written questions. In the previous seven years, the government tabled answers to only 396 written questions.
"The Opposition has been trying to suggest that we have been less than forthcoming with information to the House. Obviously, that is simply not the case," added the Premier.
Binns acknowledged the hard work of, and expressed appreciation to, the countless government employees involved in generating each question's response.