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

I will go to Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 90, I see field operations, and it has gone down. I guess the Minister is going to like my question; it is going to be about moose in my riding and that. My concern is that, in my riding, we do not see a lot of wildlife officers out there during the weekend and so, with this cut, will we be able to see an increase in people out monitoring hunting on the roadside? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we get our folks out monitoring all the time, and then we have also made known, I have heard this concern when I was in a meeting with some of the Member's constituents in Nahendeh, and we also said that, if they have any indication of any suspicious activity or not adhering to the Wildlife Act, then to report it; but we try to get our folks out as much as we can, and get them out patrolling and so they are out there being seen. It was a concern that was raised and we are hoping to take steps to try and address it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that. I know we are going through a study right now about moose and that. Has the department looked at potential further studies this fiscal year coming up on the moose, or is it just being implemented this year and that's it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we initially did one survey in November. There was another one done in February. We are still analyzing the results, and in my commitment to the leadership of the Nahendeh when I was touring with the Member, we did commit to come back to them. I believe they are having a summit, maybe in the fall. I cannot remember the exact date, but they are having a summit with a lot of communities coming in, and we said we should have our information all analyzed. We will present it to them at that time.

In the meantime, if we do get the analysis done sooner, then I will have a conversation with the Member and he will be able to share some of the findings with his constituents. I have made a commitment to have our focus at the meeting that is coming up with a lot of the representation from around Nahendeh. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Minister was very clear in his commitment to the communities, and they heard that. I guess what I was looking for is: is this a yearly study that we look at, or is it over a two-year period or a three-year period? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. It is every two years that we will be doing the work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that answer. It does help when we are presenting things there. I guess the next question in regard to this is the hunting on the corridor. I found it very interesting, as I had the opportunity to travel with the Minister and his staff, some of the things that we actually don't do or allow people to do, like hunting with lights and stuff like that.

Has the Minister and the department looked at potentially addressing this issue in the upcoming year? It seems to be not really hunting, I guess, you would call it. There have been some concerns, and I think during the oral questions he talked about addressing hunting on the side there. Would the department be looking at making more regulations to that so that they are actually off the roadside, that it is actually 50 metres off, and they have to hunt in the trees and stuff like that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that is a concern that we did hear when we were in the Nahendeh, and the Member and I actually had an exchange on the hunting off the side of the road. Again, I said you cannot legislate common sense, and I stand by that.

The other one we heard when we were in the Nahendeh is actually what the Member has mentioned, hunting with lights. We are going to go back and have a look at that, because I take the leadership's point when they were saying that we have some people out there hunting with lights. They are not making clean shots. They are making a mess, and a lot of times, they are losing the animal, and that is disrespectful, in my opinion.

We are going to go back. We are going to have a look at it. If there is an opportunity to maybe make that not allowable, then it is something we will have to explore. I agree with the leadership in the Nahendeh that that is a sloppy way to hunt. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, and I appreciate the Minister and his department looking at that.

Maybe the deputy minister or the Minister can correct me, but presently, in some of the other provinces or jurisdictions, they actually have a rule or a law against that. Is that actually out there? Thank you. I will leave you with that one there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister McLeod.

Yes, and that's what I said. We will go back and do some research on this. Whether it is allowed in some of the provinces or not does not really matter to us, because we have to make one that is actually something that we made up here and we implement. If it is a concern that we hear from up here, then it is time that we acted on it regardless of what other jurisdictions are doing. We've just got to worry about what we're doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.