The agreement states with environment and climate change Canada to finalize planning for the candidate protected areas of the Deh Cho region. How many candidate areas do we have in the Deh Cho?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are four candidate protected areas in the Deh Cho. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
And those four candidate areas are, can you...
I've asked the question, what are the four protected areas. Thank you. Or candidate areas.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Buffalo Lake and Trails Protected Area. Ka’a’gee Tu Protected Area, Somba K'e Protected Area. And Five Fish Lakes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
You said Buffalo Trails? Is that just buffalo trails in general, or is there a place called Buffalo Trails, location? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the name of the protected area is Buffalo Lakes and Trails. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Okay, so that is a -- it's a place? It's a -- or is it just a number of places that -- I need clarification. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's an area to the east of Hay River, and we are happy to provide a map outlining the proposed protected areas to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Deh Cho Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions. Thank you to the Minister.
Okay, thank you. Are there any further questions? No further questions, please turn to page 82.
Environment and Climate Change, corporate management, $14,735,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to environmental management, monitoring, and climate change, beginning on page 85 with information items on page 87 and 88. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the budget for climate change cumulative impacts and knowledge is projected to decrease by $575,000, and I'd like to know if the Minister can please elaborate what activities or research areas will be scaled back as a result of this reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will pass that to the director.
Thank you. I will go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That reduction is for two social scientist positions that have been vacant for a number of years and a sunset for climate change adaptation funding, which was subsequently renegotiated and added back into that budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, noting that those two positions were vacant, can the Minister tell me how long those positions were vacant? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, those positions were vacant for over three years, and we are using the funding to allow Indigenous governments to do the work that would have been accomplished through those two positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that's good to hear. But how does ECC plan to balance this decrease for a growing need for climate adaptation and cumulative impact monitoring? I am happy to hear that some of the funding is being redirected to Indigenous governments, but do they feel that they are adequately addressing these needs going forward? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're currently developing a new action plan, and the approach while we develop that action plan will be to fund from within the department's resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On a different, I guess -- I think it's under here. Yes, it is, it's -- water management and stewardship is under here, correct? Thank you. So on the other hand, water management and stewardship will be increasing by $450,000. Can the Minister explain what's driving this increase and what initiatives or priorities it will support? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the director.
Thank you. I will go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That increase is due to a new federal agreement that we signed this year for flood hazard mapping, and that was replacement of another agreement that we had previously, so just an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So water management spent $2.9 million more than budgeted, or perhaps it's water management and stewardship and climate change that -- and climate change cumulative impacts -- there's a lot of words there, Mr. Chair, I am sorry. What are the factors that contributed to this overspend? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the director.
Thank you. I will go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my understanding is that there are no actuals in the main estimates that you're looking at. You're probably looking at the revised estimates column, and those are actually increases in funding agreements with the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you. And, you know, I appreciate that we've talked about this in committee with various Ministers, notably the finance Minister, that many things are off-cycle with agreements. Is there absolutely any way that there's more projections that are -- more accurate projections that can be accomplished in this avenue, especially in this department? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, until we have an actual signed agreement, we're not able to include it in the estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
