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.