Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde was the first to respond to "Shyne's" various forays against the new Budget. In a bit of playful parliamentary sparring, he said that Barrow was doing some last-minute campaigning to the delegates who will vote in this Sunday's National Convention for Leader of the United Democratic Party:
Hon. Cordel Hyde - Deputy Prime Minister
"The truth of the matter is that the Member from Queen Square - the Leader of the Opposition should know better - Mesopotamia should know better, that the $20 million for the capital aviation of the Central Bank is absolutely necessary. And if he doesn't know better, he should ask the member from Alberts. I'm sure she knows better - oh Sunday, Sunday. He should also know that the budget in the Office of the Prime Minister for furniture is not for furniture for the Prime Minister's office. It's actually for furniture to pay - it's actually to pay for a bill that this government inherited, to pay for a contract signed for furnishings, for the Eleanor Hall fancy building on Lake I Boulevard. I mean, I've heard that building is worth - or not worth, but the costs 26 million. I hear a very big difference. Words are meaning - 26 million, 28 million, 39 million. I don't know. But what I know is that it's an overpriced building. What I know [is] it's a really fancy building in the middle of our community, where they could have taken some of that money and shared it with us. But the budget in the Prime Minister's office is actually to pay for a contract to fulfill a contract we couldn't get out of. You know, Madam Speaker, I'm tempted to dismiss much of what the member from Mesop. said because it sounded quite a bit like a campaign speech for the Leadership contest this Sunday. And I totally understand. If I were in your position, I'd do the same. And I'm a political animal, so I enjoy listening to stump speeches... Uhm... Beautiful."
Representatives from both sides continue to point out that their respective administrations have had to stuff a little more funds into their annual budgets. The reason, they say, is to cover debts that the preceding administration left behind for the new government to settle.
