Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to follow up on my earlier questions with the Minister of Justice, if I may. I just want to start by noting that six months ago in this House, when we had our first conversation in the House about the topic of mental health courts and so on, I did in fact ask the Minister at that time when we could see recommendations coming forward that we could actually get going on the ground. The Minister at that time did respond that: “I hope to have that to the Members shortly after Christmas” – this was December 14th – “as far as when the actual recommendations come out...

This is a group of very capable people and we want to see them be successful, but obviously, in terms of the MGP, that won’t be for some time now. What analysis did the department do to continue with that support in lieu of what we know is the current situation and the responsibility to our taxpayers to put our money in the most appropriate places where demands are greatest for success?

Thanks for that reminder, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the SAFE program. I think that’s a better approach than we’ve had in the past. When I’ve had occasion to work in small communities especially, I’ve noticed a real need for something like that. I’m glad to see the Minister come up with this solution. I hope he will be monitoring and doing evaluation on this. I think it could be a bit preventative in the long run. If that turns out to be the case, I think we want to be capturing that and maybe even bump up that investment towards lowering long-term costs.

The preventative maintenance, good program...

Thanks for that information. It sounds like we’re both operating a little bit on recollections here. It would be good to have some solid information on this. Do we spend about a million dollars on caribou surveys each year and this year? I know we don’t survey… People have been calling for caribou herd population surveys – frantically calling for that – and it was held off and held off until finally this year. I’m having a hard time understanding the situation. If you can help me out, maybe the Minister can find more detail for us. I guess I’d like to know if it’s about a million dollars. That...

I agree with the Minister. I think that’s the right attitude and I do appreciate that the department did retain some support for the outfitters. My hope is, as the Minister says, if the tags don’t materialize next year, then this support is there again to help tide them over so they can take advantage when the tags do return, and we’re all hoping that’s very soon. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I would like to mention that, of course, this all started with motions in the 16th Assembly. There has been a lot of time for the government to react to those requests. We started discussions, I would say, within two weeks of being elected, so this has been going on since October. Every time that I meet, there are promises made of when they are going to… Now we are talking the end of August for plan at the end of this fiscal year.

Does the Minister find this satisfactory? How does he see it in terms of the timing of the consequences of this crime bill and the implementation of...

Thanks to the Minister for those comments, many of which I agree with. I, too, look for the time when we will have access to royalties that will fund some of our other priorities and so on. Being a bit longer in the tooth perhaps, or maybe for some other reason I found that generally one thing is not the answer to everything and I don’t think devolution or MGP is the answer to everything. I agree with balance. I think we are out of balance now in terms of our ongoing commitment, both apparent and real, in terms of participating in international meetings and travel and advertising, as well as...

That’s great. I appreciate the Minister’s and the deputy minister’s remarks there. I think there might be a need for some coordination with ENR, which I would appreciate if the Minister would take that on.

Just in terms of the mentorship, it’s so important, I think, to get young people exposed to these opportunities at a time when they can get turned on to different industries. If there was a possibility, I would appreciate if the Minister would keep his eye open for a potential to support some sort of mentorship program to get young people exposed to that possibility. That’s all I had, just a...

I know the caribou population surveys are very expensive and we’re surveying all the major herds, so we’re talking about millions of dollars. I’m wondering are we giving up programs. We must be giving up programs if our budget is actually shrinking slightly – perhaps not significantly, but shrinking – when in fact we are taking on major additional tasks, and cumulatively because we’re surveying all these herds at one point in time. I’m wondering how that can be, what we’re giving up, or if those dollars are coming from elsewhere, where are they coming from?

I did express my appreciation and support for that amount earlier in my general remarks. However, would the Minister agree that we were less than candid in our interactions with the outfitters, given the caribou situation, and they ended up getting out on a limb because of that poor communication?