Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I got a letter from the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, responding to questions I asked in our last sitting about the Wildlife Act on March 12th. In his answer, Mr. Speaker, the Minister noted that rather than making amendments to the Wildlife Act -- because significant amendments were required to ensure consistency between the general provisions of the act and wildlife harvesting and management provisions of land claim agreements -- it was determined that it would be more prudent, timely and cost-effective to draft a new Wildlife Act.
But, Mr. Speaker, we've had, I think, one of the longest consultative processes ever undertaken for an act with our new Wildlife Act. Consultation has gone on for a number of years; very, very detailed consultation, in particular, for the last four years. In fact, we've spent, as a government, somewhere around $1.5 million over the past four years on the consultation process, and that was outlined in the letter the Minister sent me as well.
But, Mr. Speaker, if we don't bring this legislation forward in the life of this Assembly, this expenditure is put at risk. How many times have we seen initiatives get lost as elections come and go? Often, a new crew of legislators will have different priorities or may face a new rash of critical issues, and things that were higher up on the agenda of the Assembly before slip off and don't get done. I'm worried that what we have here is an opportunity missed.
We were first told by the Minister in the year 2000, when this process was started, that we would see new legislation by the fall of 2002 at the latest. Later on that slipped, and we were told that we would see it in the February/March session of 2003. Then later still, we heard, well, we'll certainly have it done by June 2003 so we can have it in the House and completed by October.
But now we've been told, Mr. Speaker, that we can't do it in the life of this Assembly. I'm really sorry to hear that. I know that I've had a look at the latest document that has been put out, which is called "Drafting a New Wildlife Act for the Northwest Territories - A Progress Report" and it's set out in there what would be included in the new act.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.