Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have some opening comments. I was very interested, of course, in the progress towards updating the Forest Management Act and with the particular interest in terms of the non-timber forest products. I understand that’s still in the works at some point. Hopefully, we’ll see some progress towards that end.
Why I remain very interested in that is because, of course, the non-timber forest products pertain to the mushrooms in terms of how it is that this government will be responsible and manage them and ensure they’re sustainable at the same time. There are regulations in place so that there is at least some management regime to ensure the protection of such a vegetative species but, at the same time, ensuring that there are regulations in there so that people don’t over-harvest them.
I understand too, in that same light, there was an effort from the House here to set up an interim system so that, in the absence of the updating of the Forest Management Act, there will be at least an effort to try and set up a regime so that things are workable. Last year we experienced for the first time a major population from down south that came up in the Deh Cho area along the highway and harvested a lot of mushrooms. More than likely we’re going to see more people come up, especially in light of the major forest fires that we had. There needs to be at least a system in place so that there’s a regulatory system in place so that we can manage it at the same time. We can monitor it at the same time and ensure the sustainability of the morel mushrooms. That’s something that I remain interested in.
The other aspect of my general comments is on the forest management agreements that were recently signed in Fort Providence, and also, hopefully with some effort, to bring along other communities that will be interested in terms of entering into the business area of looking at biomass initiatives that we have, in the end, more likely a wood pellet mill and plant operated in the Deh Cho.
I think with the recent closing down of Strat Oil at Cameron Hills, the Deh Cho constituency that I represent and, at the same time, the South Slave region really need a boost of some kind to invigorate the economy to create jobs and business opportunities. This is the hope. The North Slave communities are looking forward to creating some jobs and business opportunities.
There are, of course, ongoing things such as the advancement towards our Water Strategy. There’s great leadership shown by this department in terms
of ensuring that there is a water strategy in place for the Slave that runs into Great Slave Lake, but equally important is the Liard that flows into the Mackenzie from northeastern BC. You know why that remains, in my eyes, fairly significant is because you have the Horn River Basin and we have major fracking activity that’s happening in that area, so any effluence would run down the Liard and on to the Mackenzie River. The development of a water strategy in northeastern BC going into the Liard and into the Mackenzie is something that more likely is advancing towards its final stages, and that’s very encouraging.
Just some other comments on this are government has made great efforts to develop a traditional land use policy framework and ensuring that we have guiding principles in terms of how this government is going to operate and manage the natural resources but, at the same time, trying to balance conservation and development. In that same spirit, there are initiatives out there within the region down the valley where some regions have taken the initiative to develop at least a conservation regime, ensuring that things are done equally in a balanced way. For the Dehcho, they’ve tried to move forward on our land use plan. This government has been involved in a tripartite regime. There have been efforts since 2001 to develop a land use plan, and that’s ongoing. I understand that there are five or at least seven issues that remain outstanding and hopefully it becomes resolved, unless it stays for greater things to come in terms of maybe forging the steps towards a final agreement of a land claim and self-government arrangement.
My other comment is mostly related to the forest fire experience. It was a major forest fire season last summer, of course. What we saw was the interruption in public travel. The riding that I represent is right on the Mackenzie Highway right from Alberta when you travel up to Yellowknife. It is uninterrupted. You can make the trip in a period of about seven hours, a day trip. It is very scenic. You have lots of things to see and do while you make your way up to Yellowknife. But that highway was closed a couple of times. I understand there was forest fire suppression, and management is another thing along with the Department of Transportation. The point that I’m making is that we need to learn from that experience. Hopefully, we come up with a very fluid system this summer. Those are just my comments. Mahsi.