Bob Bromley

Yes. We’re on page 11-10. What page would you like to go back to?

Mr. Chairman, if there are areas that our uptake is declining, is there a formula or a mechanism in place to ensure that those funds get put into an area where there is more interest in or perhaps a new area that we haven’t assisted on?

Page 11-8, information item, transportation, infrastructure investment summary. Questions? Mr. Ramsay.

That’s good news, but, as the Minister said, I think we’re looking at very specific areas around communities and I don’t think we want to wait until we’ve done a forest inventory for the Northwest Territories. We want to know, you know, within a reasonable time limit of communities, what is the sustainable harvest rate for that forest. I would appreciate it if the Minister could provide an update, assuming it’s available, and demonstrate progress on that file because, again, we can have all the strategies we want, but if we don’t have the research information and the know-how on the ground, we...

Page 11-10, Transportation, information item, active position summary. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate those comments. Of course, the reason we have those fees is because there is a high cost of living in the North and I am sure it is not a surprise when people hear that it is not just aboriginal people that can rely on wild game for their main protein source. I think the intent was to keep that accessible. That is just a comment, Mr. Chairman. I will throw that out for consideration when we think about raising licence fees. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. That concludes the general comments. Does committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my first question on this relates to our earlier discussion of biomass and the need for sustainable harvest plans and knowledge. I’m wondering where the department is at on that and is there any areas of the NWT, any at all, where we have developed an estimate of the sustainable harvest rate for the forest. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time is up. Committee, we’re on page 11-9, Transportation, information item, revenue summary. Questions? Mr. Krutko.

Is something happening on the fishing licences end? I think we were actually not that interested in upping the rates on the hunting licences. Just for clarification, are rates going up on our hunting licences and where are we at on fishing licences?