Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, that's what I was most worried about. These reductions are not necessarily going to be confined to forest management. They might be made elsewhere within the department. Is that what I heard? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yes, thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate that, and I want to encourage the Minister to have a costed cash flow moving forward for our contribution toward the management of this area. I don't think $290,000 is going to cut it, but I am happy to see what he is going to come forward with.

I wonder, though, too: can the Minister tell us whether we have any staff who are being trained for the management of this new area? Are there secondments going on with Parks Canada? What are we doing to get ready to assume management responsibility for this new area? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It's on page 96, the Inuvialuit Water Board. I think I know the answer, but why is the Government of the Northwest Territories paying the operating expenses for this board and not the other land and water boards? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Maybe can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on the rationale for these cuts? I just want to understand. These are long-standing contracts. The time was never used before, so that's why the cuts are being made or what is the rationale? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us how much is for Thaidene Nene? This is going to be the biggest park that our government has ever established. National parks of a similar scale cost millions of dollars annually to manage. What portion of the $440,000 is anticipated for Thaidene Nene, and is it enough? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I thought I was going to hear from the deputy minister, but the clock is going to run out on me here, Mr. Chair, and I guess I need to go on the record. The Minister of Infrastructure has said twice in this House that environmental considerations have played no role whatsoever in the routing of the Slave Geological Province road to date, so I want to confirm with the Minister: have his staff been involved with the Department of Infrastructure in looking at the routing of the proposed road? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions or lines of questioning here. The first one is: in the business plan, there are some reductions shown for a program, management and pre-suppression, reduce number of helicopters for pre-suppression. There's a reduction of $155,000 and then eliminate one helicopter contract for $469,000. Can someone explain what these reductions are all about and how that's going to affect our capacity to do pre-suppression work? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is one of these details the land transfer arrangement that has to be made with the federal government? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. While the Minister and his staff are digging out the number, I guess I'll turn to: there is out now for public discussion a framework for boreal caribou range planning. A big part of this document really revolves around what's called adaptive management. It's basically a tiered approach to management and looking at disturbance levels and starting to do things with regard to regional range plans.

A big part of this document is really about monitoring. We have our government's own document talking about the need for more monitoring, but we're cutting the monitoring by $150,000...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate that the Minister is going to do that work, and I know that he is really keen to look at new sources of revenue. Certainly, this is one, and this, these rates, have not been touched in decades. I can tell the Minister that. I think, quite frankly, we are giving our water away. These rates, as I understand it, are comparatively low compared to most other jurisdictions in Canada, and this needs to be changed. This is one of the reasons we got devolution, was to try to make sure that we get a fair return for the use of our resources, and I do not think these...