Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My first question here is on the contract services end of things. Considerable jump up there. I know we have a lot of capacity in the department. Just in terms of getting some information on that, what is that extra $600,000 or so going to be directed to? I suspect it might be directed to some of the caribou herd estimates but I’d like to find out that detail.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to follow up on a question. This department is the lead on energy planning and policy development. I know with respect to the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, the old one, the Minister of ITI was the chair of that committee. That was a good fit. I understand now that the Premier has retained the ministerial mandate for new energy initiatives and yet this department is doing all the planning. I’m wondering how the mechanics of that works and how do those coordinate. Who is the chair of the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee on Climate Change...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had a couple questions on this page. First of all, there’s quite an increase on the contract services budget and I’m wondering if I can get an explanation of what the intention is for those extra dollars in contract services.

That’s all. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do note that there has been a substantial reduction in the overall budget for forest management, $33.6 million down to $28.6 million. I suspect that is related to not starting out with the same degree of capability or capacity, I guess, for fighting forest fires, but I would like to get that confirmed.

As well, in the contract services, getting into the detail, there is a reduction in the order of $3 million.

Finally, I am concerned about the reduction of $300,000 from forest resources. As we’ve discussed in the House before, as we move toward important biomass...

Mr. Chair, of course the reason I am looking at this is because it is sort of part of the dollars indicated under energy planning, I believe. Am I correct that we actually did have that in past years? For some reason it is not on the page.

I appreciate the Minister’s remarks on that. Just to confirm, I do indeed try and do full cost accounting, so I appreciate the Minister’s remarks there. Generally, I think it’s been a very successful program, the Waste Reduction and Recovery Act, and I support its further implementation. I am very happy to see this going ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I may just be allowed to complete the thought and relieve you of that concern, I think it is important that we are low on population in the North. It is useful to get together with our sister territories and develop common positions. I believe I have heard the Premier say that a number of times. I know that the Minister, too, agrees with that. I would have thought that we would have been in consultation with our sister territories. Are we in consultation with any of our sister territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had noted previously that there is quite a substantial reduction in the commitment for energy expenditures and that this is costing us, especially I think in the production of both heat and power from renewable energy. We have fallen down and it is now costing us considerable many tens of millions of dollars in subsidies. This sort of thing will continue if we do education. We don’t quit while we reorganize our education; we continue to deliver education. I think that is what we are about here.

If we allow this trend to continue, of course, more and more will have to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think my colleague has expressed concerns about this area, as we did in our motion in the House on Thursday. This is a walloping 78 percent cut to energy planning. I know there has been concern about the lack of progress on this front during the 16th Assembly despite spending a lot of dollars, so we perhaps do indeed need to go back to the drawing board and do some better planning there.

On the other hand, we have done a lot of feasibility work and feasibility studies. We have, in my mind, procrastinated to the point where some of those opportunities are now slipping...