Yes, I do, Mr. Chair and I will read them as soon as I find them.

---Laughter

I am pleased to present the Department of Lands’ first operations expenditure budget, totaling $26.830 million for 2014-15. This includes funding for compensation and benefits of $17.737 million for 143 positions, with 51 of those positions in regional centres, funding for contributions of $680,000, and other expenses of $8.207 million.

The department will be responsible for the management and administration of both Commissioner’s lands and Territorial lands, under the Commissioner’s Lands Act and the Territorial Lands Act, respectively.

Responsibilities devolved from the federal government include: being the lead Minister responsible for project assessments; land use planning, including regional land use plans and land use permitting; providing advice to the land and water boards for setting of securities; and leading compliance, enforcement and inspection functions for land use authorizations.

The GNWT is only one partner in an integrated land management system. Land management decision-making must recognize and respect Aboriginal and treaty rights as well as third-party land interests and legal rights. We plan to work with our stakeholders, along with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, in developing policies that meet the needs of all Northerners.

As mentioned, this budget includes contribution funding totaling $680,000: $100,000 for Aboriginal groups for consultation in support of decisions on disposition of lands; $400,000 for Aboriginal groups in the South Slave and North Slave in support of land use planning processes; and $180,000 in support of other land use management planning processes.

The operations budget also includes $950,000 to carry out an aggressive inspection process; $250,000 of this will be dedicated to inspections at the diamond mines alone.

In these final weeks to April 1st , our implementation

team and the Informatics Shared Service Centre will continue to work with other departments on early training opportunities to prepare and better equip transferring and new employees. Knowledge transfer and training for both current GNWT employees and new AANDC employees joining the GNWT is a vital component of our transition planning.

We have made progress since the committee meetings in November, but there is still much work ahead in building a cohesive department. We have the basic outline and will be working hard between now and April 1st to hit the ground running. As I

previously said to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, I fully expect there will be challenges as we go forward. The Land Use Sustainability Framework will form the overarching policy framework for the department and will be supplemented by the existing policies from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. In future, any amendments will be done in consultation with our stakeholders and committee to address land issues. But these processes will take time to do

properly and I am committed to engaging with committee and Members on a regular basis as we go forward over the next few years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.