Thank you. Ms. Craig.

Thank you, Ms. Craig. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the clarification. What is this? The money in the grant, what is it used for by grant recipients? I'm just wondering if we can get just a brief summary of where this money goes and how it benefits the public policy objective of conservation efforts by this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have a comprehensive list here. There is a number of items where it lists where the money goes. What I can commit to doing is getting a copy of this list to Members. That way, they'll have a fairly good idea as to where the money goes. It's a fairly long list, but we're looking at fish and water and caribou. It's pretty well where the money is going. There is a number of items on here. If committee wishes, I can provide the list. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Testart.

Might as well. If the Minister can provide that list, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Minister McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if the list won't do, then I can sit here and read it out and take up some of committee's time.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm on page 70 on conservation planning. I'd just like to wonder, Mr. Chair, the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway opened recently and in this summer I'm sure there's going to be some sort of an impact on the fishing along the highway, as well as Husky Lakes. I'm just wondering if the Minister and his colleagues can update us on any talks with fisheries, joint management with the Inuvialuit, the land administration, or the federal government, any types of conservation along the highway and Husky Lakes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Nakimayak.

I appreciate the response, Mr. Chair. That's all I have for this section. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further questions on this activity? Seeing none, we will go to page 69 and read conservation, assessments and monitoring, operations expenditures summary, $7,926,000. Does committee agree?

Agreed. Okay, we shall move on to the next activity, corporate management, beginning on page 73. Please, Members, refer to which page you're directing your questions to. Questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Since the decision was made to dispense with opening comments, I have a few opening comments on this particular activity item because this is sort of the corporate heart of the department and where policy, planning, legislation, communications, and so on, take place.

First off, I want to recognize that there are lots of great staff within the department, very hardworking, and many that I worked with before I became an MLA. I know that they continue to do a great job, but the problem is they don't get the resources that are necessary to do the job the way that it should be done.

This is only one of three departments that is getting cut in the 2018-2019 budget. The reductions are over $3 million, and most are being reallocated internally for other initiatives, the sort of switching that I talked about earlier.

You can see this on page 73. Look at the compensation and benefits over time. From 2016-2017 to where we are now, that is a 14 per cent reduction in compensation and benefits within the department. This is a department that is bleeding, and they cannot get the job done.

Now, to prove that, I want to ask the Minister: there are 27 mandate commitments that this department has. How many of those have actually been completed? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is absolutely correct. We have a lot of good people whowork over at the department. I think, as far as the funding goes, they obviously feel they are able to do the job with the resources that they have. If they needed to seek more resources, then they would go to FMB. I think they will continue to do the work with the resources they have.

ENR has been very good at, as we get into the information items later, getting a lot of external funding as well. In fact, I think we have brought on one person to do the work going after external funding. We have been very successful. I think we have almost $6.7 million in external funding from those that like to fund research projects; so we have been successful in that.

As far as the mandate items, we do not have that information at our fingertips, and I apologize for that in advance. I will work with our deputy and our officials to make sure we get that information and share it with the Members, but my apologies for that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.