Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources in follow-up of my Member’s statement where I was talking about the consultation process for the proposed new Wildlife Act.
I attended the meeting with the NWT Wildlife Federation on the 15th of January and at that
meeting the director of wildlife started off saying we want to hear what you’ve had to say, we want you to tell us what’s wrong so that we can fix it. Towards the end of the presentation the same director said, you know, we’re going to be putting this bill in front of the House in late February or
early March and we’re not planning to make any substantive changes, we’ll make some editorial changes, which seems like a giant contradiction to me. This is supposed to be public consultation. How can we have confidence that this consultation that’s been going on since before Christmas is open and real and genuine when the director is saying clearly that they’re not planning to make any substantive changes, only editorial changes? How can the public have confidence that their voices are being heard with respect to the new proposed Wildlife Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.