Thank you, committee. Does the committee agree that consideration for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is completed?

Thank you very much, committee. I’d also like to thank the Minister. I’d like to thank the members here, Mr. Zieba and Mr. Vician, for being here today. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you would be kind enough to take the guests out of the Chamber. Thank you.

I would like to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger, if he has any and would like to call his witnesses to the table.

Yes Mr. Chairman.

Does the committee agree?

Thank you, committee. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms if they would please escort the witnesses to the Chamber. I will ask the Members to go to their Environment and Natural Resources section, section 11.

I would like to welcome Minister Miltenberger to the table and ask if he would like to introduce his witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For his first appearance at the witness table as deputy minister I have Ernie Campbell.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. General comments on this department. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one brief comment, really. I’m sad to see the wildlife division going the way of other government departments with the high expenditures on IT, and I suspect this is just the beginning. There has been a long tradition of scientists within that division being able to handle their data and I’m afraid now this is the start of a tract that will be costly and go well, into the future, into the millions of dollars. Just a note of sadness, Mr. Chair. I’ll leave it at that.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger, any comments?

No, Mr. Chairman.

We’ll defer department summary found on page 11-2 and review the estimates by activity detail beginning on page 11-4 of your estimates books. Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, corporate management, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, zero.

Thank you. Section 11-6, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, wildlife, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $646,000. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister when they are looking at new infrastructure such as the office or warehouse or any other assets in the communities, I notice that in some of the ones in my communities that I visit they certainly could do with some upgrades or some office and storage facilities or just expand on their operations. Some of these buildings have been built some time ago. Some are a bit older and they certainly could be improved. Mind you, we’re all aware of the limited dollars that the government has, and each department has their wish list and only a certain number of projects get put on to the infrastructure plans.

I want to ask the Minister, when they’re looking at the community operations such as Colville Lake, they certainly could use an office. Right now there’s a patrol cabin that’s a very nice patrol cabin, and that office there, I guess, is used by many of the fine officers that we have in the Sahtu. They don’t really have a garage there. I think it’s a little warehouse that they have in Colville Lake. Even in Deline their building is again operated from an older

building. It’s a log building. They don’t really have any place where they can put some of their personnel or some of their equipment. I’ve been to Good Hope’s District Office. They have an office there that can also be looked at in the future for some renovating or to get a new office there.

The department operates a number of patrol cabins in and around the Sahtu. I’ve been to the Kelly Lake patrol cabin. It certainly could be given some attention on some of the upgrades to that area. That cabin is used quite a lot by firefighters in the summer and there are a couple of cabins that the people also use in my region. There’s one at Willow Lake and an abandoned cabin on the Keele River in the Mackenzie Mountains.

I ask the department, amongst their other projects, when they look at infrastructure, how do we get some attention to these types of buildings that we have or need in the Sahtu region. Mind you, there’s only a certain amount of dollars that are being spent and we’re competing with, as Mr. Bromley has indicated, an IT project such as the wildlife management information system where we’re putting some dollars to that project. I guess I need to know if the electronic information system now is more important than some of the infrastructure that we could use to help our personnel on the ground. Colville Lake certainly could use some support to get some of their basic needs met. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s comments. We, of course, note his concerns. We all recognize that this capital plan was fairly well advanced by the time this Assembly took its place and started doing business. We fully anticipate having a fulsome discussion with all the Members, including Mr. Yakeleya, as we develop the capital plan for the coming year, recognizing, as he has pointed out a number of times, that there are fiscal limitations, but we will make note of that and expect to have that discussion in the coming fall. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Section 11-6, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, wildlife, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $646,000.

Thank you. Moving on to section 11-9, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, forest management, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $878,000.