Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. I’ll quickly go through the list. With the Wildlife Act the intent is, as we’ve indicated, to bring that forward in the life of this government. There was an agreement made, about three years ago now, with the aboriginal governments where we had to work through the Species at Risk Act, where they’d been in gridlock for a number of years. We resolved the process issue, the drafting issues. It’s our intention to come forward next week, hopefully, to be able to table in this House for the first time a draft Species at Risk Act.
We’ll build on that process to do the Wildlife Act. We won’t lose the advantage of all the work that’s been done, though it will have to be updated, and we intend to continue to work very closely with the aboriginal governments, those in the settled areas as well as those in the unsettled areas.
In regard to the Water Strategy, the Mackenzie River basin transboundary agreement is an agreement that does bring together a number of jurisdictions, but it’s 13 years old. There has never yet been a Ministers’ meeting. If you read the act, it leaves out key pieces. It doesn’t include the inclusion of groundwater in the planning of the hydrological cycle.
The framework we’re coming forward with here and that we’ll be briefing committee on and want to table in the House in this sitting is going to lay out our thinking and our suggestions to move forward so we can have northern voices when it comes to dealing with Northern water. Clearly, we have taken the position that while the legal authority may lie mainly with the federal government, we have a moral and political responsibility and authority to act on this issue that’s been identified as critical by the people. We will continue to work very closely with the aboriginal governments as we do this.
When it comes to the issue of forest products, though we’re not in the economic development business, we are clearly interested in the issue of biomass. We think there is huge potential in the communities to provide relief to communities that are now staggering under the burden of the price of diesel and that there is an opportunity to look at a secondary industry as we develop this strategy in terms of replacing diesel-generated electricity with
possible biomass-generated electricity, in addition to people choosing to use wood pellets.
I agree with the Member: there is still a very clear need and benefit to just burning wood and harvesting wood the old, traditional way that has been used for centuries.
To reassure the Member, there is no monopoly. There is no plan for a monopoly to give anybody with an interest in this area any kind of inside track. We’re going to work collectively to develop something that’s good for all communities.
We use value-at-risk to protect the forests so that we can look at property and personal safety and all these types of things. We want to work with all the concerned parties to make sure we put the forest to the best use we can.
The issue of fire crews was one of the reduction areas. There was a study done, which I believe we shared or agreed to share with committee. We’ve reduced from 39 crews to 29 crews. It was not something that was done lightly. There was intense discussion. I appreciate the impact in communities that have had to do fire crew reduction, as well in my community. We have, as well, looked at and have brought forward reductions in our contracts in the use of aircraft to be as efficient and as economical as possible.
In regard to some of the concerns raised by the Member for Nahendeh, we will work with the community in Hay River with the inventory. We’ve talked about that. We’ve re-profiled to hit our targets. The issue of the forester: I believe the Member has been privy to and party to the discussions where we’ve come up with a solution where we can still meet our targets but address the forestry issue and the inventory issue.
We’ve committed, as well, to work with the region and community to see and map out maybe more effectively the geothermal potential in the communities. We understand from what the Members at the meeting told us that Nahendeh, the Liard area especially, is rich with potential, and we’re very interested in doing that.
As we move into the next year’s business planning cycle and once we conclude the fire season, we of course recognize and will put everything up for review in terms of what decisions we’ve tried to come forward with to see how effective they’ve been. It will give us a chance to assess the success of the various directions we’re dealing with.
If I could speak to the issue of growth in headquarters, an issue of concern for every one of us, I believe, especially those of us from outside of Yellowknife. We as well intend to come forward through the business planning process. I’ve had the
same discussion with the deputy about the regions and communities that have been reduced, but we see a handful increase of positions in headquarters. We’re going to do an analysis and come forward, hopefully, with recommendations of some services or positions that could be as capably and adequately doing their jobs outside of Yellowknife. So there’s a commitment here, on the record, that we’ll be bringing that forward in the business planning process.
If I could just speak to the issue of fiscal restraint, if I could just clarify for the record: in my recollection and understanding this is a two-stage process. There was fiscal restraint as well as fiscal reallocation. There was an intent to keep our fiscal house in order, to look at a $60 million reduction in government. At the same time, we wanted to look at a further $75 million reinvestment, moving resources within government to what were the priority areas of the 16th Assembly. So there has
been a two-pronged issue here in dealing with funds, and that is how we’ve been operating.
I appreciate the Member’s comments on energy conservation. There’s a lot of room to improve. We’ve also agreed to work with committee to set up a climate change committee. There’s going to be a Minister and two Members. The terms of reference, I believe, are going to the committee, which will allow us to provide a lot of good, clear advice to the other tables that are impacted: the Energy Coordinating Committee, the managing the land committee. We can look at things like the Energy Plan, the Greenhouse Gas Strategy and those types of things.
We have a very interesting and challenging agenda, Mr.
Chairman, and I appreciate the
opportunity to make some comments.