Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I suppose that the employees can identify themselves as potential candidates for moving through the system. Again, identifying yourself is one thing. Being capable of doing the work that is assigned to you and moving through the system is another matter, but I don't think that anything stops them from self-identifying. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I share the Member's concerns about the Nutrition North program. We are glad that we are able to help many communities with the community assistance program. I think we have helped some communities get some different types of meat in when the caribou are not readily available. That is there. I think we have also helped with the Member's riding in paying for part of a charter last year, or paying for the charter. As far as a long-term agreement, it is application-based, but I think we have demonstrated in the past that we are more than happy to assist the community. I am...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We want to do a thorough job on the work that we do, and we don't have much choice. We can't make a unilateral decision. We have committed to working with our Aboriginal partners on trying to move this forward. Again, credit to our Aboriginal partners; they recognize that this is a serious issue, and they want to move forward as well. I think it is going to carry a lot more weight, and it is going to go a lot further in partnership with the Aboriginal governments.

As far as the boreal caribou, in responding to questions from the Member for Yellowknife North during oral...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is correct.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When ENR had identified the Fire Boss and not the potential savings that were going to be realized, it came back to the FMB and asked if it would be able to defer that and they would find other sources of reductions. They did, and we approved that. All the other departments within the GNWT had met their obligations. Because we had asked for a waiver on the Fire Boss potential savings, that is the reason we came up with this.

As we go forward now into the next budget, I think with some evidence we have on the actual cost of operating the Fire Boss, I think the numbers that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is under the management board secretariat, but if the Member wishes, he can ask the questions in this particular area.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I directed the department after we've had some conversations with many of the Aboriginal partners on coming forward with a plan to take some initiative with the caribou issue. Part of that plan, I think, would be travelling to the regions and chatting with the different Aboriginal groups, and getting their input and coming up with a bit of a plan. That's how we want to deal with the caribou issue collaboratively. We've already mentioned the Tlicho, and hats off to the Tlicho. They showed tremendous leadership in trying to deal with the caribou issue. As far as the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We recognize the severity of the declining caribou herd. We heard it throughout our tour of the Tlicho, and we heard it from the Yellowknives, as well. I have instructed the department, as I was responding. I have directed the department to come up with a plan to address a lot of the issues that we have heard about. I think in response to an oral question before, I said that we are looking at trying to have this work done as quickly as possible and have it come forward in the form of a supplemental if need be. On top of the ongoing work that we do as part of our regular...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not going to get into a debate on this. This was raised in September. If the Member missed it, he missed it. There was plenty of time from September to now to find out if this was in there or not and raise the concerns that he had. I am going to find out. There may have been more information off the officials, but it is my understanding. I think the Member wants a big, 12-person, public board to oversee this money. Then we have to start putting money away into the Heritage Fund, and we will determine how we are going to use it. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. As we move forward debating next year's budget, I mean, that will happen, and there will be some initiatives that are brought forward. I believe that the Government of the Northwest Territories, we are so far ahead of the curve on climate change, feeling the effect of climate change. I think some of the work that we've done in that is already incorporated into when we look at the infrastructure that we put in. I suppose, if it is the wish of the Assembly, we can put every little thing into regulation, legislation, and that, just to give the Member comfort, and the...