Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, we’ve put this document forward for consultation and we’ve extended the consultation period to, I believe, October 19th, at which time we will put it in a box, basically, and we’ll include it with the transition document for consideration in the 18th Assembly, which will include all the feedback we get.

This document is basically post-devolution. The Northwest Territories has taken over the Protected Areas Strategy and has rebranded it and packaged it and is putting is out as a Northern Conservation Action Plan. There is a process that we’re going to continue on with from the...

One of the partners in the partnership that is putting this line in is going to run a managers course with NorthwestTel and they have all the expertise. It would be a logical assumption to assume that in their business case they would be interested not only in putting the line down the valley but where they already have a presence in communities where there is going to be now access to cutting-edge fibre optic connections, they would be there looking to, I would assume, upgrade all of the communities. They have already upgraded them to satellite; most of them have cell phone connections. This...

Mr. Speaker, the core protected or protected areas are those areas that would be permanently withdrawn from industrial commercial development, like the proposed Thaidene Nene area for the federal and territorial footprints of Nahanni Park, part of Wood Buffalo that’s there, Edaezhe and the Ramparts and those types of things. That number all in is at 14 percent.

The other lands where there’s conservation designation, we have a Parks Act, for example, that has six levels of park. Five of those levels of park permit activity, commercial activity, permanent activity, so could include industrial...

As we turn to look eventually at the Yukon lateral or the Dempster lateral into the Yukon, clearly there will be lessons learned from this project and we will be applying those when that day comes as we look at doing that shorter and more easy-to-access route down into the Yukon. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, there was a level playing field. Every proponent had the same information and there have been no change orders. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It doesn’t appear that we have that information here. We’ll have to agree to provide that to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance.

The final harvest decisions on an interim basis will be done before the middle of October. We are in discussions now with all the impacted and affected Aboriginal governments, programs and boards, our Department of ENR. So that will be done.

In the longer term, we are hoping to get the Bluenose-East Management Plan up and running finally. I believe now that the conditions are right, where we can get the attention and interest of all affected parties to gather around the table to work on an ongoing, longer-term plan on the Bathurst herd, which is in the most dire straits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That issue came up during the Jay pipe hearings. The issue of cumulative impact was a directly contributable effect in terms of fatalities on a regular basis. It’s one that has not been clearly defined. There have been changes made as issues have been raised in terms of the road access, how the road is used, how the traffic flows, the ability of the herd to cross the road. So, there is continuing work as we look at that particular issue. Thank you.

Forecasters are already looking at large-scale global weather models and into forecasts for next year. Forecasters are predicting an El Nino winter, warm with limited precipitation which, depending on the actual outcome, may affect our water levels for next season. It seems that the drought through the NWT will continue.

As such, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or ENR, will continue to be proactive and ready itself for the next fire season. A debrief of this year’s lesson learned will take place in the fall and public meetings will take place over the winter.

The rollout of...