Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, first of all, what the amalgamation provided for us was, it ensured that we still have some money to put into some of the programs we have in regard to wildlife and the environmental part of our mandate. Had we not amalgamated I would suggest that the Department of Renewable Resources, specifically, would have largely been gutted in order to meet the targets that we had set for ourselves in cutting our operations and maintenance budgets. The fact is, we have had through the process of amalgamation been able to retain sufficient money, for instance, to try to do something about the Peary caribou. We have had enough money left so we could continue trying to do what we can to salvage the Bootleg Bison Herd, to do cooperative research work in different areas of the Northwest Territories, where the money to fund the Kitikmeot Slave Study.
There are a number of initiatives like this that we are continuing to do some work on. One of the things that I think I personally felt, I do not mean to say badly, but I wish it had not happened, was that some of the biologists we had who were, in my view, very well respected biologists, not only by myself but everyone in the department, by their own academic scientific colleagues, but some of them chose to resign rather than help people like myself figure out a way in which to meet the challenge of downsizing and reorganizing. I felt perhaps personally I could have done a little more had I known early enough to try to salvage the work relationship and to try to find a way to keep these type of individuals working with us as a team, but it was not possible. I was not given the opportunity, but I still feel that we did the right thing. We have not done anything to compromise the importance that all people of the north put on the land and the environment. The Member will know that this government in fact has very little actual jurisdiction in those areas, but we act as if we do, because we know how important it is. It is only through devolution that we will actually have real management, real ownership, real control over the land, the water and the minerals. Thank you.