For that detail, I'll ask Ms. Bard to -- with your permission, I'll get Ms. Bard to answer that question. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Bard.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, I hear that and that's -- sometimes those things are found in business plans that are public, but they're kind of buried in the detail of it. And I would have thought that we'd want to make that kind of information a little more public. And why, you know, wouldn't it be contained in the annual report from the forest superintendent who's actually largely responsible for doing inspection and enforcement. Why can't it be found in the annual report? Or at least be prescribed as one of the thingS that should appear in the annual report? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Annual reports will provide summary data; i.e., inspections and that. So it is being provided in the annual report. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Okay, well that's interesting because it's not required in the legislation. But if they want to continue to do that, that's great. Is that what actually happens now; is there an annual report from the forest superintendent? Is it public? Does it contain data on, say, the number of inspections, the number of enforcement actions? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. We've heard the Member's concern, and we'll make sure it's added in the reports moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Okay, thanks. So we don't get an annual report now from the forest superintendent. I got a commitment that it'll probably occur in future reports; that's great. I just would like to have it in the bill itself. So, Madam Chair, I'd like to move a motion to amend 15.1 if I could.

Go ahead, Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that subclause 15.1(1) of Bill 74 be amended by.

(a) adding the following immediately preceding subparagraph (a)(i):

(0.i) any research activities of the Forest Superintendent under paragraph 15(3)(b),

(b) deleting "; and" at the end of the English version of subparagraph (a)(iv) and substituting a semicolon; and.

(c) deleting paragraph (b) and substituting the following:

(b) the total number of inspections and investigations conducted under Part 7;

(c) the total number and total amount of fines and other penalties imposed under Part 8; and

(d) any prescribed information.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. First off, I just need to get it clearly on the record I'm not raising any of this to delay or derail this bill in any way. I want this bill to pass, and I want it to pass in this sitting. I support the Legislative Development Protocol. I support the process convention. These are minor tweaks to the bill to improve transparency and accountability. This is about the public aspects of this bill. This is not about anything else. And I think it's a debate that we can and should have on the floor of this House. That's always been my objective as an MLA throughout my year -- eight years in this place, is to increase openness, transparency, and accountability and that's what I'm trying to do here. This is not ability trying to usurp the co-development process of this legislation. This is not about usurping the process convention where we co-draft or co-review this bill with the departmental staff, with the Indigenous governments, and Minister. That's not what this is about. This is about trying to increase transparency and accountability.

So I want this bill done and I just want it done right, and I want a few minor tweaks. That's what I'm here to talk about tonight.

So the things that this bill -- there's a lot of wording in here. What this really does is add two -- three things to the annual report that the forest superintendent would do. We've actually just heard the Minister say they're okay with that. So I don't know -- I'm hoping that the Minister and Cabinet will actually support this addition. This Minister just said that he was okay with it. So (a) -- or the first thing to be added is any research activities of the forest superintendent under paragraph 15(3)(b). So remember this: We're talking about a summary. We're not talking about all research activity. This is a summary of the research that the forest superintendent intends to undertake under 15(3)(b) of the Act. This is not about any other research that the forest superintendent may do. This is about the -- what the forest superintendent is explicitly allowed to do under the legislation. So why not get a summary of the research that the forest superintendent does? I think it's a good thing.

Secondly, the other addition here is about adding into the report the total number of inspections and investigations conducted under Part 7. We're not talking about individual case information. This is just to provide some information to the public that -- and some confidence to the public that, wow, there is actually inspections and investigations taking place under the Act. So they know, wow, it's good; they're actually doing their job. And that's a good thing.

The other thing to be added would be total number and total amount of fines and other penalties imposed in terms of enforcement actions. That's what I find in Part 8. That's probably another good thing for the public to know that if somebody does something contrary to what -- the legislation, action is taken. It's a good thing. Why wouldn't we want the public not to know about those things? So that's what this is about is adding three small items to the list of things that the forest superintendent would put into an annual report. The Minister's already said he's fine with it. Let's just incorporate it into the bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. We've had this discussion lots in committee on a number of bills. I guess if it was up to me, I don't think I would legislate any annual report in any piece of legislation. We see that they are moving. We see that often you want different things. Sometimes reporting changes over time. I just don't view what the content of a report is as something that's really the purview of the legislature. Government is pretty committed to publishing more and reporting on far more. We just have added a lot of these clauses, it will cost a lot of government, and I just think there's a better way to tackle it. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. To the motion. Sorry, Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's not very often I agree with Rylund. That's a first time in -- after four years, it's one time. So, you know, I feel the same way. I'm not going to be writing a forest superintendent's criteria of his job description in a bill. That's up to -- that's up to the deputy minister and that's up to the people that supervise his department. And I refuse to do that. I think that the bill has been put before us, and it was done by the Indigenous groups and our people. And I refuse to go there. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. To the motion. Minister of ECC.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not support this motion. The GNWT has already agreed to previous standing committee amendments that add mandatory provision to report annually on forest management activities. The amendment adds any research activity to the annual report requirements. This addition is vague and considerable effort would be needed to track everything that the forest superintendent may research over the period of the year. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake, the Member who --