Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the Member's riding, a draft Nahanni bison management plan has been revised following an internal ENR review, and it will go out for a broader GNWT review. In the Nahanni population, currently, there are seven male tags only available, and once the population has reached 1,000 animals, a male-only harvest of between 1 to 2 percent could be implemented, as per the management plan. I think that the short answer to the Member's question is yes, we are looking at three different herds of bison in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I apologize, Mr. Chair. Yes.

I would love to. I respect and understand the Member's position. He has always taken the same position, but I am of the opinion that the department has fulfilled many of the mandate items on top of doing all the work that was tasked before them before our 235 mandate items came forward. I think the department has been adjusting. It has been an adjustment for a lot of the departments because they continue to do the work.

As you see the results of the work that they are doing, a lot of the new initiatives that they are working on are much appreciated by a lot of folks across the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The short answer is yes. We work with all of our Indigenous employees, and I think that there are a couple of programs to try to get them some management experience. If employees are identified as though they might be able to move through the system and are capable of becoming managers, then we would work with them to give them the proper training that they need to move them along. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments. I believe we do have the best support for our harvesters in the whole country. I can assure the Member that there are no plans for any reductions to this particular program. We know how much it is valued by trappers out there. We have heard from them personally. As the Member has said, it gives them the opportunity to get a fur advance and then wait for the actual fur auction itself. It is a great program. It is one that is well appreciated and well subscribed to. We are going to continue to keep that program going. Thank you, Mr. Chair...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are doing a lot of work in this particular area. Wolves and harvesters are just part of the work that we are doing. Those seem to be the ones that are highlighted all the time, so those are the ones that would get the most attention, but there is a lot of work that goes on as part of our regular work within the management of caribou. I am going to, through you, Mr. Chair, go to Dr. Dragon to give us an explanation of some of the work that we have ongoing. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't assume anything. If I have something to say, I will say it, and then I do, and some people may not like that. I'm sorry. That is just the way it is. I can assure the Member and all Members of this House that everything we do we do in an open and transparent manner, because you have nothing to gain by not doing it. This is public money. This is a Heritage Fund, so, if we need to have a discussion more on the RFP and the situation there and if the Member missed a briefing or if he didn't catch it, then I suppose it should be on me, as Finance Minister, to fill...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it's still accurate.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, who is the deputy minister of Finance and also secretary to the FMB. To my left, I have Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do plan on doing some communication to the public so they can understand. That's just a given. As far as a dollar figure, I don't have an exact dollar figure, but the money will be from within the $88 million that is appropriated for Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.