The enforcement, we’ve added into our enforcement. I think we have an extra enforcement person. I will confirm that and provide that to the Member. But I know it was a concern that the Member had raised. I think it was during the business plan review. Then recognizing that we may be getting more responsibility here very shortly, so enforcement is going to be a critical issue. I can assure the Member that that is being worked on.

The familiarity with the area, our folks have done a lot of site visits. I think they’ve had one study done I know on a particular lake, and the turbidity of the lake, how much it can sustain and how much development it can sustain. They have actually done a lot of really good work, because this was an issue that was raised by the Member, and then working with the YKDFN I think is going to go a long way in familiarizing our lands folks with some of their traditional areas and some of their expertise. That’s what we really welcomed when they came to the table, was the expertise that they brought on the different types of land. We did a lot of work as far as the enforcement part and familiarizing ourselves with the lands that we administer. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I’m glad we’re at work on those things. I still, though, am hearing a lot of uncertainty about the regulations and the deadline

of March 31st . We don’t want a situation where,

obviously, when things come open we’re not ready for it. Is the Minister prepared to extend the moratorium on leasing for another month or two, if need be, to get things wrapped up properly before moving forward? Thank you.

Madam Chair, I appreciate the Member raising that. I will make a determination. The Member is correct; and I have said this a number of times, we need to make sure we get a good quality product before we put it out there. I think I had used that line a couple of times, because we had an extension a couple of times. If it’s a matter of a month or two to make sure that we have everything worked out and everything worked out the way it should be, then I will commit to the Member that I will make that determination close to the end of the month. We’ll be sure that we let the public know right away because there are a lot of folks out there that are sitting and waiting and hoping some land does become available for recreational leasing. We want to make sure that we give them that opportunity, however, understanding that we need to make sure that we get this right. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, thanks again to the Minister. That’s good to hear. I know that I was using the Minister’s words there and he caught that. We want to do a good job. I’m with him there.

We have such a history of unfair and erratic adherence to regulations and inspections and so on that it’s going to be very important to really be on top of things once there’s the new situation goal, which is going to be difficult because people are going to holler a bit. Some may have never seen this before, maybe. Is there a plan to make sure that the public is well aware that this is a new situation? I appreciate that the department has been doing a yeoman’s work in terms of… You know, if we have to, we will go to court. We don’t want to but… I just raise that. It would be good to know. I don’t see any increase in the budget here to speak of; in fact, the opposite. So I am a little bit concerned about capacity here. Thank you.

Madam Chair, as far as capacity part, as I said before, we have added an extra enforcement person. Once we come back in the fall time to do the business plan review with committee, if there’s an opportunity there, if we feel that we’re lacking in capacity, then we will possibly come to committee and get some feedback from committee on that issue.

I’m sorry; I missed the first part of the Member’s question. I think it was just complimenting the department in all the good work that we’ve been doing.

---Laughter

Except listening. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, the first part was recognizing that this is a new deal. How are we going to assure the public and make the public aware from the very start that we are serious, that we’re going to adhere to the regulations? It is not you’re just getting after new people, but there is a lot… I don’t know. It’s a mess out there, as the Minister knows, in terms of whatever regulations you are coming up with, in terms of our history now, but that is the situation to me that has to be dealt with. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Bromley, your time is up. Page 6-29, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, lands administration, operations expenditure summary. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions for the Minister. What plans are in place with the community operations of the communities along the Canol Trail shale play that is happening right now in Norman Wells, Tulita and next year I think Fort Good Hope is going to start entertaining some companies to do some exploration seismic work there? How is MACA helping out Tulita and Norman Wells? What type of additional support are we going to get for this department here?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We recognize that there is going to be a lot of activity around the Sahtu. I think our staff can prepare for that. Our superintendents and our regional staff will work closely with communities,

probably identify some of the challenges that they may be facing.

Again, we go in there at the communities’ invitation. We work with them very closely on this issue. I can assure the Member that we know. We will have the assistant superintendents in all regions too. I think that will go a long way. We will work very closely with community and do our part in supporting them in getting ready for expansion and all the work that is going to be going on in the region. Thank you.

Madam Chair, the communities have certainly seen the impacts through our boundaries, the roads and the traffic, certainly in Norman Wells. They are starting to realize that this is not going to slow down; because words of the oil companies is that they have encouraging results. So far they are looking at the sites and they are finding it more encouraging than ever. We have a lot of work amongst ourselves to do in our communities. I am looking forward to MACA’s support for additional staff members and additional support for helping us. That’s what I want to ask the Minister, the type of support, even doing an assessment. I remember MACA did a really good report on, if there was going to be a Mackenzie Valley pipeline, these are the impacts it’s going to have on Good Hope, Norman Wells, Tulita, Fort Simpson, Wrigley, right down the valley. I’ve been asking for that report, but I have not yet seen that report. I don’t know if it’s with ITI or MACA or if it’s locked up in a vault. I don’t know. So I’m looking for that report so I can give it to the people and say, well, this was done because of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline if it was going to come down the valley.

We’ve got a bigger project than the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. You’ve got the Sahtu Canol shale play going on here. We’re not talking millions; we’re talking billions. So I want to ask the Minister if that report is public or if I can somehow get it or the communities can use it for planning. They’ve got to start sharing this information, otherwise you’ll have the information but our communities won’t have it and you’ve got them at a disadvantage. So I’d like to see where we can help each other out. That probably needs a bit of tweaking and a couple of more things that need to be added in or taken out, but basically it’s the same. The impacts are going to be the impacts. If we’re going to haul out millions of dollars’ worth of exploration stuff and equipment or start production of the Canol play, then we need to have our eyes wide open. That’s what I’m saying. MACA did a really good report. I remember reading that report. If I knew I was going to be on this long I would have taken it. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the Member’s big concern here is to ensure that the communities are ready for future development and I’ve assured the Member that with

the assistant superintendent is a decentralized effort by MACA to get more people into the regions. So we’re looking forward to some of the good work that they’re going to be doing.

Again, we will work very closely with the communities to support them in their efforts to get ready for all the work that’s coming their way. If there’s a role that MACA can play, we will support them, and I’ll make that commitment.

The Member was talking about boundaries. Again, a lot of these issues are community-driven issues and we support the communities wherever we can. Thank you.

Thank you. Maybe I’ll ask the Minister of ITI for that community assessment report. I know MACA has it. I wish I would have kept a copy of it. Anyway, that was the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline. So maybe ITI will have it. I’ll ask the Minister. At another time I’ll ask him for a copy.

So that’s okay. I will work with the Minister, I’ll work with his team on the impacts. I know they’re feeling it now. Again, I was at the Sahtu Dene Council meeting yesterday and the four chiefs were talking about these impacts, and I sat there all day. One of the things that we talked about, and it was because of the four chiefs being there and them having my ear, is them talking about the infrastructure, the water treatment plants, the sewer plants. These are the assets owned by our government and they’re pretty expensive to operate. They’re pretty complex, pretty technical and they were looking for support where the government could work with our communities to look at how best to serve the community. So I appreciate the flexibility your staff has, Minister, and acknowledging the hardship we had in regard to Colville Lake, for example. We don’t need to bring that up, but you guys are working on it in Tulita and Deline and Fort Good Hope.

So I think we need to continue with the infrastructure. The amount of money that the community has, the amount of needs that they have on the roads, dumps, water treatment plants, sewer, other things, we don’t meet all our priorities. So I want to ask the Minister in regard to that, because some of our water treatment plants are pretty complex, they’re pretty expensive, we need to ensure that our communities have enough and sufficient money to operate them. That’s what I wanted to remind the Minister, that if you have a $10 treatment plant, we need to make sure that there’s $10 worth of operating funding, not 10 cents. So that’s something we want to work closely with.

Again, I appreciate the staff working hard with our communities in Colville, Good Hope, Deline, Norman Wells and Tulita on this key, essential infrastructure for our people. Mahsi.

Thank you. I’m not sure about the report. We’ll do some digging around and see if we can find the report. We continue to work with the community governments on their water treatment plants to make sure that they’re adequately funded to operate these water treatment plants. So we’ll continue to do that work. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Committee, we’re on page 6-29, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to say something to the Minister on the community operations. The communities are moving towards being more self-sustainable such as the infrastructure that’s going on in the communities. We want to ensure that this continues on. So I want to let the Minister know that the people in the Sahtu that attended the Good Governance courses appreciated it, and they say that was a real good course. So it’s things like that that help our people. If you bring training programs like that into the Sahtu, they wanted me to say thank you on behalf of the people, the ones I talked to in the Sahtu, which are the four communities essentially. So I have to say that before I forget to say good things to the Minister.

Thanks, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, and we appreciate the Member’s comments. These are good courses and opportunity to bring folks from across the NWT together and talk about all the issues that face their community and try to find some solutions. So I appreciate the comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Committee, we’re on page 6-29, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, lands administration, operations expenditure summary, $3.047 million.

Thanks, committee. Page 6-30, Municipal and Community Affairs, information item, lands administration, active positions. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Very quickly I just noticed Yellowknife is down one and we were just talking about it being one up for the enforcement positions. So I just bring that to the Minister’s attention. So somehow there must have been a cut of two positions for us to still have an additional in enforcement. If there’s any light to be shed on that, I’d welcome it, or later. Whatever serves. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod.