Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to announce some initiatives and changes that are being made to the forest fire management program.

When responsibility for forest fire management was assigned to me several weeks ago, I set out to make it into a program that could be respected by our community leaders, effective in its task of protecting our resources, and efficient in spending limited financial resources.

The first step was to ask every community in the western Arctic to appoint a contact person who can represent the community leaders when decisions have to be made. As a result, community leaders and residents are now partners in decisions being made about how to respond and manage forest fires. We also have people in the north who have many years of experience and know the tried-and-true ways of effective firefighting. respected elder, Eddie Powder, has been hired to give advice on how things can be improved.

Mr. Speaker, one of the first things I did when I accepted this responsibility was to meet the ground crews and fire bosses who work in difficult conditions to control fires. Their jobs are tough and I have tremendous respect for them. I am announcing today that the salaries of certified firefighters are being raised from $8.75 to $11.50 per hour.

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I have made other changes to our fire management program and policy to improve effectiveness and efficiency of our activities. Following discussions with the Standing Committee on Finance, a target budget of $13 million has been set for fire suppression. I believe we can stay within that target, even though we are experiencing forest fire conditions as bad as last year. Giving the staff in the fire program a target to meet, rather than an open chequebook, is an incentive to save money. Economies are already happening as staff work with community leaders in finding better ways of doing things. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the For example, rather than using expensive helicopters to complete the mop-up of the Norman Wells fire, our people and the community came up with a plan to use men and caterpillar tractors with limited helicopter support. This plan to barge the tractors up the river to the fire site has cut our costs for cleaning up the fire by at least one third and has left the dollars in the hands of northern businesses.

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As part of the plan to save money in firefighting, a $1 million forest fire prevention program has been established. This program is to be used to supplement community fire protection activities. Forest fire management staff will be working with communities to develop plans and set priorities for actions that must be taken to help make sure that we do not lose a community to fire. A basic requirement for this initiative is that the plans have to be community-driven. We help the communities draw up their plans, we do not go in and tell them what we are going to do for them. A major advantage of this initiative is that it also leaves the dollars spent in the pockets of residents.

Mr. Speaker, over the years, all of us have heard the frustration expressed by harvesters when their cabins and equipment are lost to fires and their trapping and hunting areas are temporarily wiped out. Even worse, some harvesters have given up harvesting fur after fires destroyed everything. One of the reasons is that the compensation available to them was limited to a maximum of $4,500 for each cabin and the equipment they owned. Many Members of this Legislative Assembly have spent a lot of time on the land and know $4,500 does not come anywhere near the replacement costs for a harvester's cabin and equipment. As a result, I am pleased to say that approval has been given for a program that allows up to $7,000 to replace a cabin, between 75 and 100 per cent for replacing equipment and up to $15,000 for relocation costs to establish a new trapline. With this increased compensation, harvesters will be able to re- establish themselves or even move temporarily to a new location.

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The increased compensation is necessary, especially in times when fur prices are low and in recognition of the fact that, realistically, we will not be able to control every fire.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, during this last week and a half, we have had one of our most threatening fires in history. Two communities were evacuated and we saw how community leaders, residents and staff pull together when the chips are down. A lot of people were working around the clock. I was particularly pleased to note that our fire management systems and processes for decision-making were working effectively. Regardless, we have room for improvement, especially in developing a real partnership with communities in fire protection and in increasing northern benefits.

As another step in achieving this, I have, this past week, completed negotiations to establish five more community contract crews and manage two satellite camps. The bottom line to me is that the resources around each community are first and foremost the property of the users. It is they who should have final say in protection plans and actions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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