Mr. Chairman, I’m trying to be as general as you can get, because I know for a fact, along with everybody else here, that there are positions in place, that there are suggestions that are being made. I think our suggestions are just as valid as the Minister’s recommendations. I think we do have the right to ask questions under general comments. We don’t have to get into detail, and I think the whole idea of general comments is to try to get a general idea of the issue and to hear a
response from the Minister on exactly where they’re going with this stuff.
I know for a fact that as long as I’ve been here, going on 12 years, the issue of the forest fire centre has been raised time and time again in this House. Why do we have an office that operates 12 months of the year? It does its real work during the fire season, which is not in the winter time. That’s nothing new to this House; it’s been raised before. I think it’s important that we do look at every aspect of this thing.
The biggest cost in regard to the area of forest management is the water bomber contract. There again, there was nothing done to look at savings in that area. I think it’s important that we look at all aspects, especially where the biggest capital investment is in this government. Yet we’re picking on individuals’ jobs and livelihoods. I think it’s important that we ensure we have an opportunity to put forward our issues in regard to general comments and see exactly where the government is going on a general basis. So I’d like to ask the Minister. These are issues that have been around. It’s nothing new to me or the Minister. This issue has been raised in this House many times.