Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the commitment by the Minister. When I look at the funding that is here, I think it is good, but I think that we need more. There is money here to carry on the surveys. There is money for the collars. There is money for traditional knowledge work. There is some fire management. There is some predator control money, and maybe a little bit for research. I don't see anything in here, though, about habitat protection, not one cent.

We have asked the harvesters to give up harvesting now for years, and they have done that. In some cases, they have actually done it voluntarily, but there is not one cent in here for habitat protection. The Bathurst caribou management plan calls for habitat protection. There is to be some work done identifying or compiling key habitat; we already know where a lot of that is. There is supposed to be some work done to look at temporary caribou protection measures or caribou conservation measures, so that, when there is land use activities in an area, when you have caribou nearby, things shut down. That is the way it was done in the Kivalliq region when there was a caribou crisis.

I don't see one cent in here, though, to actually do anything about habitat protection. When is that work going to happen, and how is it going to get funded? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand the importance of protection of the caribou herd. We live amongst the caribou herd, so we understand the protection. I have heard from a lot of the elders in the regions that I have travelled to about the protection of the caribou herd. This is a supplementary appropriation. This is $1.10 million in addition to the money that we appropriated during the budget session in February-March. Again, I could work with the department and compile all of the information in addition to this money here, the other money that is allocated. I think that it is a fairly significant amount.

I understand the Member's concern, and it is a concern that I heard from the elders, who I take very seriously, because they know the land and the caribou a lot better than we do. We have enhanced the program. It's a start, and we would continue to enhance the program and work with our Aboriginal partners to make sure that we have the best protections available to the caribou herd. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I would appreciate some more information, then, from the Minister. I have the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan open on my screen here. There are seven management tools identified. I am just going to read out the ones that have anything to do with habitat: habitat conservation, mobile caribou conservation measures, road planning and management, and offsetting and compensatory mechanisms. I don't see anything in the supplementary appropriation that is going to allow for that work to be carried out. I don't think that the existing staff have the capacity to do these additional items in here. How is this work going to be funded? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not question the capacity of our staff. We have professionals that know exactly what they are doing. I have had the privilege of working with them in my time as the Environment Minister. I know that they are very passionate about what they do. I know that the Indigenous elders are very passionate about what they do. I know that the Member is passionate about the fact that we need more money to do the work that we do, and we are continuing to allocate money for this.

Again, I did make a commitment that I would work with the department. I am sure that there is other money. This is a supplementary appropriation. This is what we are requesting in addition to the money that we are already spending on these particular items.

As far as the actual dollars, I apologize; I don't have that information at my fingertips, but I will work with the department to make sure that I get a thorough description of all of the money that we have going towards the caribou in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's commitment. I would like to get something back in writing from the Minister and the department about the costs of these activities in the range plan and where the money is going to come from to do, particularly with regard to item 2, habitat conservation; item 3, mobile caribou conservation measures; item 4, road planning and management; and item 5, offsetting and compensatory mechanisms. With that commitment, I am willing to let this go. I think that I heard the Minister say that he would provide that information. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I was trying to get some of the numbers here from the main estimates that we debated, and it seems like there is a lot of money that is going to this. As far as the actual breakdown, I think that the Member was looking for specifically what we are spending on the items that he listed. I will work with the department to get some of the numbers to provide to the Member.

At the end of the day, the important fact here is that we are allocating a lot of resources to deal with something that we have heard about from a lot of the people across the Northwest Territories who have lived amongst the caribou and have used it for a few years. We have heard from them, and we have heard their voices, so we are trying to allocate as much money as we can to try to do the work that we need to do to conserve the caribou in the Northwest Territories.

Again, I have made a commitment that I will provide some of the numbers to the Member, and I intend to live up to that commitment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Final words, Mr. O'Reilly?

Thanks. It is nice to get final words once in a while. I am worried about habitat. We are not doing anything or nearly enough to protect the habitat of the caribou, and that is my concern. I don't think that this supplementary appropriation deals with that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Wildlife, not previously authorized, $2,467,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $3,805,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Executive and Indigenous Affairs, operations expenditures, Cabinet support, not previously authorized, $59,000?

Corporate communications, not previously authorized, $40,000?

Directorate, not previously authorized, $856,000?