Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. That’s a long time. That’s 18 months from now. The work might be done by then, but I guess it seems to me that this land withdrawal has been in place a lot longer than just six months.

When did this land withdrawal first start? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I look forward to the answer with bated breath.

My next question goes to the difficulties the group that I’m talking about, the motocross group, are having in trying to advance their project. So I’d like to ask the Minister what’s the rationale for the department saying we won’t take any applications for a land lease now, we will not take absolutely any applications until this moratorium is over.

Why would the Minister not allow the department to take applications for people who indicate an interest and then not process them, but simply take an application? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It goes to the desire of this group to establish an area where people can go and use motocross-type vehicles to get them out of going into the bush, so they aren’t destroying land which we don’t want them to destroy. The land in question has previously been used as a track. There are not going to be any dwellings on there, so it’s not going to be near any water. There are no lakes close to that and it’s unlikely that it’s going to be a prime site for any kind of a cabin.

So, if the use of this particular site is agreed to by the Yellowknives Dene or the Akaitcho...

Thanks to the Minister. I understand that we are doing this work, but I don’t understand the actual focus of the work. In developing this Recreational Land Lease Policy, what is the department focusing in on or what particular kind of use is the department focusing in on? As part of that, I’d like to ask the Minister what his definition of recreational use is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank you and all my colleagues in the House for the pinkness yesterday. Anything we as Members can do to raise awareness of bullying is a good thing.

There was significant activity in the Great Hall at noon yesterday. Some 120 students from four Yellowknife schools were here for an anti-bullying event sponsored by the northern chapter of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Thank you to Jack Bourassa, Lorraine Hewlett, Mark Populous and other PSAC staff for once again organizing this event, and a huge thank you to the students and teachers from William...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a motion. I move that Bill 41 be amended by deleting proposed subsection 106.1(1) in Clause 33 and substituting the following:

106.1(1) Subject to this section, a decision by the registrar under this act is final.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We wish to consider Bill 38 and Bill 41. Thank you.

Thanks. I didn’t hear an answer to my first question, but I imagine the Minister is still working on that.

The Minister, again, is referring to a huge demand for cabin lots or for hunting and fishing licences. I want to say again that this organization is asking for a piece of land that is not going to be used for cabin-type activities. It’s going to take motocross, dirt bikes, et cetera, out of the woods and onto a track which is where they need to be. They are planning on education. They are planning on youth. They are planning on highlighting safety and all that.

I would like to ask the...

Thanks to the Minister for that. It gives me some comfort, but I am concerned that we are seemingly taking on more and more expenditures and basically just saying, well, that’s fine, we can borrow the money. I can say that I’m not sure if you’re considering everything and, you know, do we really have to go this much into short-term debt. But I do have faith in the Department of Finance and I do have faith in the Minister, so to ask that question, I’m going to get a rhetorical answer. So I will say it out loud but not expect an answer.

If we pass this bill it will then increase our limit to $300...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We wish to consider Bill 43 and then Tabled Document 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016, continuing with Environment and Natural Resources and, time permitting, Municipal and Community Affairs and Department of Lands. Thank you.