[Microphone turned off] ... get a chance to before. I do want to acknowledge the work that went on between committee and the department. We had 34 amendments that were proposed by committee. We accepted 30 of them. There were four we did not accept. Again, they were defeated, and they were brought down to the floor of the Assembly to have further debate on it, which is the right of this Assembly, and I respect that.

The act as written already ensures that the Minister will make transparent and accountable decisions on whether a nominated area can be considered by Executive Council for approval as a candidate area. The act now states that a Minister shall consider an area for approval as a candidate protected area, and those decisions regarding nomination must always be made in accordance with the act and in good faith. If the Minister rejects a nomination, they must provide written reason for that rejection to any nominating Indigenous government or organization.

The proposed list of exclusions was assembled in a matter of hours by departmental staff as examples for committee and by no means was put forward as an exhaustive list. It is simply not possible to have an exclusion list within the act that can reflect all possible scenarios. In the future, as we move into implementation, more guidance to the Minister can be made through the development of regulations to prescribe eligibility criteria. Such criteria shall be based on learned experience for implementation of this important piece of legislation. This is an appropriate and responsible path forward.

An example of a nomination that could not be rejected if this provision was accepted is a nomination made by one Indigenous government or organization that is not supported by another Indigenous government or organization with asserted or established rights in that nominated area, so, for that reason, we will not be supporting the motion. Thank you.