Bob Bromley

Mr. Chair, we’re not talking about people that live outside community boundaries; we’re talking about people that live on the land away from civilization and make their living on the land. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The reason I see a difference here is because there are land use plans in place for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and we don’t have those for the area for the road that’s being discussed. As the Minister knows, those things take in the order from five to 20 years to do. To do it right, we need to get started yesterday in land use planning in this area.

On the establishment of protected areas and development of an ecological representation network, where are we at on ecological representation? I know what we’ve done on the cultural representation side, working with our...

I’d like to ask the Minister if he’s aware of a policy gap associated with the compensation for fire losses only being available to trappers and not to others that live on the land and make their living off the land and through important roles in remote locations.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question is on… I note the division is responsible for regional land use planning and I know through our Aboriginal government partners we’ve got a lot of land use plans in place, Inuvialuit, Gwich’in, Sahtu, Tlicho, I believe even the Dehcho have done some work there. But there are two major areas, the North Slave and South Slave, where there hasn’t been much work done.

Has the Minister initiated processes there to get that work done? For example, this government is talking about a road to resources, Slave Geological Province highway. Where’s the land use plan...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and the deputy minister for that. It sounds like a very comprehensive look. It would have been very nice, of course, to have had that in hand as we review this budget and as the department develop the budget. I understand that the Minister will bring this to committee at the end of March. I guess I want to confirm that.

Is that the intent, that committee will hear about that at the end of March and discuss any budget implications at that time?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that response. I see what’s happening is not in line with what’s been said is going to happen. I think the Water Strategy recognizes that we’re undervaluing our water. The Minister’s on record as saying we’ll be working to correct that situation. I guess I’m asking where we will see that and when we will see that reflected in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Obviously, we’ve had some major issues in this activity in the current year and the forecasts are for at least a possibility of similar-scale challenges in the coming year for which this is the budget. I recognize that the budget is not adjusted; in fact, it’s even down considerably from a couple years ago. How is the government handling this? Are we going to again borrow dollars or plan on saving dollars somewhere else if we do have another $60 million forest fire year?

Communities must be assisted to recognize the importance of the factors affecting education because, after all is said and done, raising a graduate is everybody’s business.

I appreciate the Minister’s thoughts on that. Right now we’re dealing with things sort of in an ad hoc way, and I think it would be great to see a very defined role which recognizes the things that the Minister has mentioned.

I wonder if the Minister would commit to getting that sort of thing into the transition document we’re contemplating or into the policy of his department if that’s more appropriate. I realize he’s not the only one that would be doing that but it needs leadership. I appreciate the leadership he’s provided on water. I’m not seeing the same thing on climate change, and as a...

That’s fine, Mr. Chair. I’ll leave it at that. Thank you.