Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we all share the Member's concern with the state of the caribou herd in the Northwest Territories. Again, this is another area where traditional knowledge would play an important factor, because who knows the caribou better than the people who have been living off them for hundreds of years?

There had been an opportunity there, and I think it's one of the reasons that as we do caribou surveys and Deputy Dragon spoke to before, the Boots on the Ground program. Again, that's taking advantage and using a lot of traditional knowledge, and good caribou management...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, before I hand it off to Dr. Dragon, the Member's first comment before, and I failed to reply to it, on the Thaidene Nene. Obviously, our desire is to do this right, and we're going to make sure we do it right. The federal government is going to make some investments, so we'll have the resources to make sure we have the ability and the capacity to monitor this part.

As far as shuffling money off, we don't do that. We don't shuffle money off, but I'll get Dr. Dragon to respond to why the money was being moved from CIMP over. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my understanding is, in some of the smaller communities, we do send crews in as needed. As far as the community itself having their own crew, we have no contracts in place with any of the smaller communities to have a dedicated crew in that community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually had that discussion with the Minister of DFO. My understanding, as Ms. Craig pointed out, is that they are having a meeting with them this week, because we had heard about it the week before we went down on a trip to Ottawa. I think the Minister of ITI and the Premier have heard about it as well. We actually raised it. Of all the conversations I've had and the conversation with Minister Morneau last year, we raised the fact about the one-day fishing licence and we were kind of hoping he'd put it in his budget address last year. We are working with it and it is...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the new firefighting fleet that we have is getting rave reviews. They're very, very efficient, and they've done everything we expected them to do, which is good. The Member is absolutely correct. We're fortunate this year, we haven't had an opportunity to see how they really work but that's a good thing. The maintenance cost on these are practically nil for the next few years. As far as the old water bomber fleet, those have all been sold and the money is in the bank. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are well aware of all the work that needs to be done. The department feels like that work can be done within the existing $481,000 budget. The $50,000 I spoke of earlier, before, was to reduce contract services within the water regulatory section. The department obviously feels like they have the capacity to do the work that is required within the $481,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will commit to provide committee with a briefing as we get closer and closer to the establishment of the park, and as well, we will have some numbers as to the cost to operate it. As we get closer to concluding our negotiations, I will keep committee informed and then provide them with a briefing before we finalize it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in Fort Simpson, I believe there are 13 positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's correct.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that partially depends on what the federal government does as far as funding goes and then the release of our strategy. If we can have the numbers in place for the next business planning process, we will go through that. If there is a need for appropriation before that time, then standard practice is that the department goes to the FMB to request supplementary appropriation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.