MR. ALFIE MACLEOD: ... Mr. Speaker, is this budget denial retaliation for the Auditor General's uncovering of the NDP's budget trickery, or is it just a strange coincidence?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. "Trickery" is an unparliamentary word. Again, I'd remind the honourable member to retract the word "trickery," please.

MR. MACLEOD: Mr. Speaker, I apologize for that, and I would ask again, is this budget denial retaliation for the Auditor General's uncovering of the NDP's shell game, or is it just a coincidence?

MR. ALFIE MACLEOD: Mr. Speaker, my question through you is to the Deputy Premier. It's no secret that this NDP Government has no respect for the Auditor General. In January 2012 the Auditor General pointed out that running up the province's deficit - the debt - was unethical. To that, the member for Halifax Chebucto said: very interesting, who asked you?

Earlier this year, the Auditor General unveiled a $27 million budget cover-up. Media reports say the Treasury Board denied a budget increase to the Auditor . . .

HON. STEPHEN MCNEIL: ... Mr. Speaker, how can Nova Scotians trust a Premier to deliver affordable clean energy to this province via the Maritime Link when he won't even tell Nova Scotians how much that energy will cost? How can the people of this province trust a government that intentionally misleads the House of Assembly and all Nova Scotians when it failed to disclose . . .

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. That is unparliamentary, the words "intentionally misleading".

MR. MCNEIL: I'll rephrase it, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.

MR. ANDREW YOUNGER: ... Once again, the NDP chose higher profits for Nova Scotia Power and Emera so they could spend that money outside of Nova Scotia over jobs and economic opportunities in green energy in Nova Scotia. Why did the minister allow the IPP process to be rigged so that Nova Scotia Power could download their capital cost to ratepayers while driving away new renewable energy investment that would have created new rural jobs in Nova Scotia and cheaper energy prices in this province?