Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A few general comments and some questions, Mr. Chairman. Obviously it's not too difficult to support the intent and the content of what this bill is trying to achieve. I think that I don't know exactly what incident or incidents may have given a rise to this amendment in a way that it had to be done in a very expeditious manner. I wasn't purview to the GED committee who probably got some more detailed information, but I can think of situations that have happened in Yellowknife at the Fred Henne Park last summer that could probably speak to the merits of such a bill.

I just want to state that this bill is going through somewhat of an irregular process in that we're passing this bill through three stages without the benefit of a public hearing process and I don't mean to sound too conventional or conservative, but I take very seriously the convention and protocol of our legislative process. There are good reasons why we have a public hearing process, obviously. Every one of these bills that we pass through this House has implications for the public. We are passing laws and discussing laws that would impact members of the public in one way or another, and hopefully all of them are for the public interest and public benefit, but I think it's important to note that this is going through a irregular process and it could be...I think it does speak to the importance that the Members are placing on this bill, but also it may speak to a lack of preparation on the part of the department somewhat.

This is the third year into our Legislature and I have to tell you that the Members on this side have been just waiting, dying for some legislative food to chew on. So I could assure you that had any bills like this have come in time, you know, we would have been happy to take it on the road. But to be fair to the department, I could turn that into a question and see if the Minister could state for the record here, are there some specific incidents that may have prompted this action at this time. The Member from Kam Lake stated that this is something that is very long overdue. So I don't know exactly what the picture is that prompted this. I think from the general point of view I'm actually surprised that the park officers did not until now, through this bill, that they didn't have the power to ticket people for some of the misbehaviours or wrongdoings or something more serious. So that's my first question.

The second question I would like to ask is, would the park officers need to get training or any additional equipment? Would this need extra resources or would there be need for more officers to do their job, all of which I am prepared to entertain but about which I know very little.

I know there were situations in Fred Henne Park last summer where someone was attacked by quite a vicious dog. It could be that with the rise of crime in the city, there might be more activities going on in the park that might require more resources and more training by the parks officers. I don't know. The Minister could tell me that everything is fine the way things are, but I just want to give the Minister an opportunity to explain the state of affairs for the work of parks officers in these changing times. Things do change and it's important that our public servants and the people who uphold our laws and enforce our laws are properly equipped and properly trained and given the resources necessary.

My next question and my last has to do with what the extent of fines or any tickets would consist of. The Minister mentioned earlier that part of this bill will be dealt with by way of regulation, but he's also stated that those are written already. I would just like to get an idea of what the members of the public would be looking at in terms of tickets they can get for different levels of misbehaviour, if

the Minister could itemize for me the activities that will come under the purview of this legislation and the sorts of things that will be subject to fines and enforcement by the park officers.

I think those are my four questions that I would like the Minister to answer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.