Robert Hawkins

Although I realize there’s House protection, I still will take great skill in pointing this out not to draw unfair attention, but under the context of price fixing and anti-corruptive activities they certainly are illegal under the federal Competition Act. That is a reality. The way you read the paper is one is waiting for the other. It doesn’t sound like they’re colluding in the same way or whispering what are you going to set this week, but it does seem to point out the fact that there is some weirdness how they’re working together and one’s not doing anything without the other.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. PEI does this. New Brunswick does this. Why does the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs need a push or a shove from a motion or Member’s statement to do the right thing? Mr. Speaker, why doesn’t Municipal and Community Affairs do the right thing on their own? They know what the problem is; they could do it, so why don’t they?

Well, first I should be clear that I’m not suggesting anything, because I’m not a wildlife biologist. All I can suggest is, I’ve heard from other people who make suggestions of that type of manner, that is the right choice. I will leave it up to the biologists to make that determination. I again ask the question of what stopped us from putting numbers on the table to this point of saying when we reach a certain number, whether it’s 35,000 for the Bathurst or, for example, maybe 2,500 for the Cape Bathurst, then we can open up to residents and outfitters, as well as return to traditional...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to continue today with my questions to focusing on my Member’s statement, which was the concerns regarding the caribou surveys and their numbers.

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources provided a statement and he talked about the numbers; three out of the four groups were increasing, one is decreasing, as well as he showed clearly that two groups we were unable to fully survey to get a sense. He did highlight that there was a problem. I’d like to say he skipped over predation pretty quickly in one of his statements on trying to focus as a solution, as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I raise today’s Member’s statement as an opportunity to respond to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Minister’s statement, which is an update on the NWT barren ground caribou numbers.

First off, I want to thank the Minister for providing the House a small update. I think it’s a snapshot of our particular situation, but it is disappointing to hear the facts, that we still have a number of herds missing, without the details.

He points out, quite clearly, that the Bluenose-East and the Porcupine numbers, due to weather, we were not able to get clear and...

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Of course, we had some delegations that brought information, such as the Pembina Institute, which I would say most Members, if not all Members, thought it was very valuable.

That said… And Mr. Yakeleya, of course.

I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories include in its policy on hydraulic fracturing requirements for fair and transparent communication and opportunities for public engagement throughout all phases of the development of shale oil and gas projects. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It gives me great pleasure to have the motions before us. I just want to remind committee and, of course, the general public, these are a bunch of motions we had read into the official record when we had read the report yesterday. With that, I wanted to thank the Members publicly for their assistance in doing that.

At this point, I’d like to get straight to the committee motions that are on the official report.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to first thank the Minister for that lavish praise and, of course, if he wishes to further gild the lily with how great I am, I would be willing to accept it.

When can we expect these particular numbers before us so we can have them for good discussion? The outfitters are feeling left out. Resident hunters are concerned. I support the return of full hunting for First Nation people, their opportunity.

The point is, when can we get the numbers out for discussion so we know what we’re working towards, because right now everyone’s in the dark and we want to be part of...

I can’t disagree with the Minister when he says it’s more than just about the basic numbers. I would like to know what positive effects, other than just banning caribou hunting, the department has proposed. What I mean by that is, has the Minister, or working with the boards or co-management partners, have they proposed anything such as hunting more wolves, any type of activities that will help increase the population? To be frank, waiting for the caribou to repopulate themselves to their old numbers may take a generation of our lifetime, not the caribou’s lifetime.