There is no actual drop. It is a result of the budgeting cycle. The government was not able to meet the budget cycle for main estimates because the existing three-year agreement terminated on the 31st. Therefore, there was a certain amount of money in the system already, but the rest of the money missed a cycle because of the election and the new government. That's why the minister is coming back with supplementary estimates in December. It's to top up the amount to last year's levels.
On October 18th, 2006. See this statement in context.