This is page numbers 541 - 578 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Topics

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Antoine.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

The designation of the 60th Parallel Territorial Park is a territorial information centre. It provides information for the whole territory for rubber-tire visitors coming into the country. Thank you.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. McLeod.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Chairman, the tourist information booth that the community of Enterprise is trying to set up also caters to the rubber-tire tourists, or whatever the Minister calls them. It's the same kind of set-up, except one is community driven. Maybe the Minister could explain to me what is the difference? How does one get classified as a territorial facility if it's providing information and we have another community-driven initiative that doesn't get recognized at all?

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Antoine.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

As I indicated earlier, there was an options paper that went to Cabinet, and it was Cabinet direction to keep this territorial information centre at the border. We haven't been funding any community tourism information booths. There are a number of them throughout the North in the small communities, and more or less they do it on their own. Funding-wise, we haven't identified any dollars within our budget this year. We're told not to put any new initiatives in our budget this year, to try to keep the costs of operating government down. So that's the reason we haven't identified anything for community information booths. Thank you.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. We're on capital acquisition plan for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. McLeod.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Chairman, I also wanted to ask some questions regarding the Hook Lake recovery herd that we have in the Fort Resolution area. Is there any infrastructure located in that whole initiative?

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Antoine.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

On the Hook Lake recovery, the program is still in place. We intend to keep it in place. We are waiting for the federal government to decide what they are going to do with the different diseased herds in the park. Pending that, we have to look at options for what we are going to do with this herd, whether we release them into an area where it's disease free, maybe move them into the buffalo sanctuary in Fort Providence, but we have to work with all the communities. We have to work with the communities in Fort Res. I don't know whether the honourable Member wants buffalo in his backyard, but they are tame ones. There are options there and we have to work with the community of Fort Resolution. Thank you.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you. Mr. McLeod.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Chairman, the Minister kind of went into the direction that I was planning on asking questions on. I wanted to know if there was going to be any consideration to invest any more money into facilities and maintenance on the Hook Lake herd. My concern is where are we going with that whole initiative? I don't know what we are we waiting for the federal government for. Where are we planning to put this? Are we planning to build another holding area? It's not clear to me by his answer. I realize the Minister has indicated that they are a tame herd. I don't know if we want them brought over to Fort Providence. I think there would be some concern, certainly if they are tame and are going to be wandering around the community. We already have problems in that area.

If the Minister could be a little more specific and give me some direction as to where the herd will go. Are we looking at spending more money for a holding facility? It's obvious that we can't release them back into the general area that they were taken from. I don't believe they are generating any revenue and the herd, I am assuming, is still growing yet we haven't identified what the end result is going to be, what further investment it's going to require, what further facilities we are going to need. So if the Minister could be a little more specific.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you. Mr. Antoine.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

We are not in a position now to consider building any more new infrastructure for the buffalo herd from the Hook Lake Bison Recovery Program. We only have money in the O and M to continue what we are doing in Fort Resolution. We have been waiting for about five years now for the federal government to decide what they are going to do with the diseased herd in the Fort Smith area. Up until now, they have only been doing studies and we cannot continue to do what we are doing forever. So we need to work with the community of Fort Resolution to see what they want to do. At this point in time, there is no concrete plan of action on which way to go. We have been exploring possibilities of what might be coming up in our discussion as we were in Fort Resolution. So there is no concrete alternative other than what we are doing. Thank you.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. McLeod.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 568

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

I have been trying to follow the way calculations are done regarding the use of campgrounds. We have several facilities in my riding, quite a few of them actually, and I see a lot of use of these facilities. For the most part, I would consider them tourist or out-of-town visitors. At the same time, we see other facilities that are considered high use. If you go into some of the campgrounds around Yellowknife, there are a lot of resident people using them. I am not trying to state one is better than the other, but in terms of territorial investment, I would consider maybe some of these should be regarded as community campgrounds rather than territorial campgrounds. I am just wondering if this department tracks the people who utilize these facilities, if they track them and differentiate between community use and out-of-town use or tourist use.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you. Mr. Antoine.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Yes, we track the number of people who use our campgrounds. We have information. We have been tracking for the past five years, so we have numbers to show that. Thank you.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. We are on cap 25, total resource management and economic development, $1.385 million.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

---Agreed

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Forest management, total forest management, $1.550 million.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

Some Hon. Members

Agreed

---Agreed

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Total department, $2.935 million.

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

---Agreed

Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 569

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Does the committee agree that that concludes the review of the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development?