Shane Thompson

I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. So we will have the conversation. I can guarantee that Alberta government is listening to what's happening and has been listening to it. I can because soon as we reached out to the minister's office, the staff were reaching out to our staff right away. But for the process, I know the Member's not happy with the process but at least we're getting the information. But for detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.

So it'll be through internal transfers. Thank you.

Thank you. So when we first started doing this process, we said it's not a cost saving measure. We will amalgamate it, it's A plus B, as the deputy minister said. But then we're going through the process of optimization. So it's going to take us a bit of time to do the optimization. We don't want to, in the past, just cut. We're not just cutting to cut. We're trying to make sure that we do it right moving forward. So that there is where we have our staff in place, having our conversations, where we need to see things and where we need to be able to put our programs and our staff. And that's...

It's for the North Slave, and it's the water resource officers. Thank you.

Yes, for that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.

For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I said, I'm more than willing to meet with the Member and the Minister to discuss this. Traditional knowledge is very important. And, again, when we reach out to our elders, that's our foundation so their knowledge and information is very helpful. So like I said, I will work with the Member and to have that conversation with the finance minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you ENR, through the traditional knowledge policy, recognizes Indigenous traditional knowledge as an essential source of information about natural environment and the relationship of people on the land and to each other. I can tell you our traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge helps us develop our policies. So, yes, we find it very important to reach out to our Indigenous partners moving forward with our policies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the DAP was evaluated and approved following the 2021 flood and, again, is under revision this year as we have learned since applying it to the 2022 flood. While no policy is perfect, we are confident in meeting the intent to help communities and residents recover from a widespread disaster.

Mr. Speaker, DAP is not a compensation program and is not an insurance program that covers all losses. It is a governmentfunded assistance program to ensure essential community functions and covers the essential basic needs of residents and businesses. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The definition in the disaster assistance program are in line with the disaster assistance policies across Canada. The definition of "emergency" does not exclude tornados and has provisions to include any other sudden events of unusual proportion caused by nature's phenomenon. This leaves the opportunity for tornados to be considered if either criteria for applying this policy are met and if the results is a widespread situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.