Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to the respect of the caribou mismanagement strategy here for $525,000, I know that this government here has been studying caribou right until they're blue in the face here and we've had so many studies on caribou, you know, right until they're blue in the nose. We have stacks of information on caribou numbers, migration routes and community consultation processes and all this, and now we're spending another $140,000 on more consultation. I don't know what really is going to come out of it, because I'm sure we've spent millions of dollars on consultation and other companies also spent a lot of money on counting caribou.
The West Kitikmeot South Slave Study has been studying caribou and other wildlife for the last 10 years also. You know, we have just tons of information out there and I think that the $200,000 even for 20 satellite collars, that's $10,000 a satellite collar, Mr. Chair. Like what are they doing? What are they renting to go and track down these caribou, because to me that's pretty expensive collaring anyway for caribou, the ones that especially are nearby, I don't think it costs $10,000 to go and collar one in one day. That's quite a waste of money I think.
Just with the consultation, $140,000 is not going to get you much consultation. I know that just from what I hear in talking to a lot of elders and a lot of hunters and trappers, that it's just the government biologists are just dictating what the government should do with caribou management and these biologists aren't even from the North and they have never even lived in the North and they're just here driving their own agendas into the government's management regime as far as when it comes to caribou. I don't think that the government, whether they consult with the locals and the hunters and trappers and the stakeholders or anything, is going to make any significant changes that will help any of these stakeholders in caribou management. I couldn't say for sure whether there's a large decline in all of these herds, but I know that some of them have just taken different routes that they're just not seeing as often anymore and that's the word I get.
So I can't speak anymore to the topic, but I just wanted to let the Minister of ENR know that I hope something really positive comes out of this whole management strategy at the end of the day that works for the outfitters, works for the hunters and trappers and works for all the stakeholders involved, because it sure is a real waste of money as far as I'm concerned. Thank you.