Will the Campbell administration shutdown the legislature without a line-by-line debate of the provincial budget? That seemed to be the signal the administration was sending yesterday, as reported in this morning's newspapers. But, if that happens, the decision to do so must have been made relatively recently. Because, according to an email sent written by House Leader Graham Bruce's ministerial assistant Steven Puhallo, the Liberals were still planning on going ahead with an estimates debate earlier this month. In his email, which was sent on February 1, Mr. Puhallo asks fellow aides to send him information about when their ministers will be out of the legislature. The reason: "We will be planning the order of estimates debate later this week and will need to know which Ministers plan to be away and when." The following is a complete copy of that email, which was leaked to Public Eye.

-----Original Message-----
From: Puhallo, Steven L SDL:EX
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 3:44 PM
To: LP Administrative Coordinators; LP Executive Assistants
Subject: Order of Estimates Debate for March and April

Dear Friends,

Could you please ensure that your leave requests with the Whip's Office (submitted and approved) for the months of March and April are as up to date as possible. We will be planning the order of estimates debate later this week and will need to know which Ministers plan to be away and when.

Cheers,
Steven

Steven L. Puhallo
Ministerial Assistant to the Hon. Graham Bruce
Government House Leader