Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, colleagues, I am pleased to speak before you to speak to the proposed amendment to the Territorial Parks Act. A recent review of parks issues identified the urgent needs for this amendment to the act that would be beneficial to both park guests and staff and make visits to the parks this summer safer and more secure.

This amendment addresses a problem identified by parks staff, the public, the media and indeed Members of this House, that of disruptive and destructive behaviour of individuals in territorial parks, particularly those in and around...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re still discovering that, or still analyzing that. As the House will remember, we reduced the budget, so the money is not there for the facility, but the plan was to reduce the…(inaudible)…allocation for attrition. That, by and large, has not happened. We are talking about the possible uses for some of that space that will probably require new programming and I think we need to have that discussion when we come forward in the business plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do. The provisions contained in the bill we think are about approximately $20,000 per year more. The policy and regulation changes that we are proposing, and those are the things Ms. Lee mentioned, some of the high points, more Pages, going from travel for two Pages for each MLA to full costs for four Pages per year. We are improving the orientation programs for Members and we are also going to provide for five constituency tours every year. That will ensure that we don’t see what we are seeing now in some instances where Members have to make a choice about doing...

Mr. Speaker, I guess I would say that we hope not, but 128 is close to the capacity at 154. We’re not there yet, but should we see pressures, we do have to talk about our corrections model. That is why you’ve seen some of the piloting of on-the-land corrections camps and we’ll continue to look at other ways that we can do that. But it, going forward, could be a concern for us and we’ll have to continue to keep an eye on it. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, thank you. Just some clarification of the question. Are we talking about the annual increases for Members’ indemnities tied to CPI and what that will approximately be per year, or are you talking about the total package of enhancements and changes here? I think we can give you some estimates of numbers. We don’t know the CPI going forward, so there are some unknowns here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues. An open house was held last week in Hay River. A brochure highlighting the tourism industry is being distributed in all NWT communities, and we are working with the Northern Frontier Visitors Association to support the second annual Discover North Tourism Awareness Golf Tournament this Friday.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our tourism industry personnel for their dedication to this important industry and thank them for a job well done. I would also like to take this time to underscore some major initiatives that this...

I would, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we do have a standard requirement for parks officers for the training that they have to take. Of course, that training is updated depending on the case. It’s updated as required and often annually. We do have a compliance protocol with ENR that applies to all of our parks across the territory. So that is in effect in all of our territorial parks. I hope that answers the question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 12, Garnishment Remedies Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under the current act, the powers of a parks officer currently, they can order a person to desist from an action or a conduct if in the opinion of that officer: 1) it’s dangerous to life or property; 2) interferes unduly with the enjoyment of the park by others; 3) bothers or damages the natural environment in the park. So they can issue these orders, but what we are trying to do is provide an additional tool, more teeth, a $200 fine or hopefully just the threat of a fine. The intent here is this would be a deterrent, Mr. Chairman. So that’s the difference. They...