Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have $29 million in this envelope, but you talk about managing the forest, you talk about fire suppression...we are spending a lot of money fighting fires, but we are not spending any money on the potential or development that can come from the harvest of the forest. We are spending $12 million a year fighting these fires, yet we are not getting any money back to come close to offsetting the cost of managing that forest.
I am just wondering if, maybe, it is a question about refocusing the responsibility of this department to seriously look at not only the management of the forest, but also considering the economic potential that forest has to develop jobs for communities and businesses and that it is done in such a way that it is done from the ground up where the small communities can take advantage of it.
We have a lot of costs associated with importing goods and services, especially wood products from southern Canada. Why can we not develop those products in the north in the communities and be able to market that product in the Northwest Territories, rather than just taking the raw log and shipping it to British Columbia or Alberta and have it milled in southern Canada?
Can the Minister tell me if that is a possibility within the mandate of this portfolio?