Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have a lot of general comments about the fire management program, in particular, but there are also a number of other areas I would like to comment on. Mr. Chairman, I know that 47 per cent of the overall budget is for fire suppression and management. Last year, the Minister's main estimates totalled $17 million; however, he ended up spending $35 million. The department came in for two supps during the year: one in August for $15 million, and then an extra $5 million in September.
Last year, compared to the previous year, we spent an additional $11 million. It seems that every year, the department keeps requesting $17 million. If you look at our budget book, it has basically doubled. I guess the concern I have, which a number of people have indicated, is with the way the fires have been addressed. Previous Ministers commissioned a review on fire management and suppression. This review was completed, I believe, in February 1994. It took just about a year to complete. Some of the studies relating to the review were brought forward to the Minister and concluded in July, I believe, of 1993. I asked the Minister at one point during oral questions how much we paid for the review. I wonder if he has found out how much that review cost. I also know that the review came up with 33 recommendations for the department and I would like to know how many of those recommendations have been addressed or will be implemented.
When you look at the reviews discussing firefighting, it always indicates that there is an excessive amount spent on this. They have indicated, many times, that there has got to be a way to save money with regard to forest fire management and suppression. The Minister assured Members that he would do a review last year about this. If I understand correctly, the cost of fighting fires last year escalated from about $200,000 a day up to $400,000, which is a phenomenal amount of money.
In times of restraint, it seems adequate measures aren't taken to try to curb that expenditure. In the review that was completed, the reviewers basically encouraged the Minister to achieve a $1 million savings. They stated that if the Department of Renewable Resources could resolve the misfit of fire crew shift times with the distribution of actual fire occurrences, that would save them some money. That's the same concern my colleague for Nahendeh has raised with regard to firefighting times under the union agreement, which results in very high costs.
The review also looks at ways to curb funding when you are going to address firefighting. In talking to firefighting crews, they seem to know that there is a lot of unnecessary expenditure. Many of the older people have said that, years ago, when they fought fires, they would go as close to the fire as they could, start fighting fires and then set up camp. Now, they go quite a distance away, set up a hotel system and then they fly fighters into the fires. It really costs a lot of money because they are flying people back and forth on a daily basis, probably sometimes twice a day because they have to come in for meals and what not.
So, while our technology is better today, it seems that the cost of fighting fires and the amount of forest that burns are a lot more than years ago when we didn't have what we have today. It seems that there is certainly a real problem. I was hoping, when the Minister told us in November that his department was going to have community meetings with regard to a fire review, that many of these comments would come out in community meetings. I said in the House that the community of Fort Smith is still waiting for this community meeting on how to address fires. There are many experienced firefighters in Fort Smith, as the community is surrounded by trees.
There has got to be many ways to look at this. Last year was a bad fire year and this year, I suspect, will be just as bad. We're going to be looking at something like $35 million again this year. It takes care of a supp for about $20 million, which is what they looked at.
It just seems like there's no effort from the department to look at how you cut down on the cost of fire suppression. I thought the department would find a way when they commissioned this fire suppression review and start implementing some of these recommendations, but it seems like it's not being done.
So there are many outstanding concerns with regard to fighting fires that have to be addressed. There are a lot of common complaints you get, not only in the way they set up their camps or hotels or whatever people want to call them, but with regard to unnecessary flying of people back and forth to basically the same areas where the fire is actually fought. There are also a lot of comments with regard to the burying of food because it's going to cost too much to bring it back. Apparently, there's a lot of wastage with regard to unnecessary expenditures for food that the department pays for, sends out to a fire. If the fire is out, it seems that a decision is made that it's too costly to bring the food back so they find methods of disposing of it, which is shameful to hear.
Of course, there is also the high cost of ways to attack fires. Not only firefighters -- it's good that we create a lot of jobs for firefighters but there are also a lot of costs with regard to aerial fighting of fires, with respect to the department's methods of addressing firefighting.
Mr. Chairman, when you look at a department like this with 47 per cent of its budget going to address fighting fires, and then knowing that that 47 per cent comes back with a supplementary request, that causes a concern. They just don't seem to be making a serious effort deciding how to address fighting fires.
I guess what I would like to hear from the Minister is whether or not his forest fire management reviews were conducted. What types of methods are they going to be looking at to try to curb the expenditure of funds when they address the whole area of fire management and fire suppression with regard to departmental expenditures?