Kevin O'Reilly

Madam Chair, I move that subclause 48(2.1) of Bill 74 be amended

(a) in paragraph (a), by striking out "in respect of the" and substituting "in respect of an"; and.

(b) in paragraph (b), by striking out "that is applicable in respect of the" and substituting "or zoning bylaw that is applicable in respect of an".

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks. Yeah, one of the concerns that we had raised to us in a written submission was how the Act would apply to, say, titled property and say areas where people have surface leases for various purposes. This legislation would seem to enable the department to issue forest licenses and permits on what might be privately owned or area owned lands or areas where the surface rights have been leased out. Is that the case? And if not yeah, I'll start with that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. There's nothing in the bill about any form of public engagement on regulations. So earlier in my remarks, and I think in the committee report as well, at least a couple of the submissions said that the public engagement undertaken by the department was inadequate, that it was delayed, and it was for a very short period of time. And I'm just wondering what the department's learned from the public engagement on the bill and how they intend to apply that in the regulations? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. So this is a 2.1 here is a new part of the bill that was added as a result of the collaborative review we undertook. And I think one of the issues that we found and this was raised in the last version of the bill in the last Assembly. It was raised again during the public engagement on this bill. I said this in the House at second reading. You know, what is the relationship of forest management as established under this bill, what's the relationship with land use planning?

We have forest ecosystem management plans. We have monitoring and research that's being...

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I want to speak to this one. I want to speak to the resources that this government actually got for forest management. The responsibility was, of course, originally held by the federal government and back in 1987, there was a devolution agreement for forestry negotiated. And this government, at that point, received an indexed offset to the territorial formula funding arrangement of $24 million. And so that was indexed over time. We asked the department about what that would actually be these days. We were told that it's about $55 million in today's dollars. So...

Thank you. I move that paragraph 127(z.01.1) of Bill 74 be amended by

(a) striking out ",and" at the end of the English version of subparagraph (i) and substituting a comma;

(b) striking out the semicolon at the end of subparagraph (ii) and substituting ",and"; and

(c) adding the following after subparagraph (ii):

(iii) respecting time periods within which plans must be provided.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. First off, I just need to get it clearly on the record I'm not raising any of this to delay or derail this bill in any way. I want this bill to pass, and I want it to pass in this sitting. I support the Legislative Development Protocol. I support the process convention. These are minor tweaks to the bill to improve transparency and accountability. This is about the public aspects of this bill. This is not about anything else. And I think it's a debate that we can and should have on the floor of this House. That's always been my objective as an MLA throughout my year...

Thanks, I'm just waiting for the light to go on. Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess what the process convention does set out some timelines and, you know, steps for committee to work with departmental staff, with the technical working group. And those are good things. But it's really silent on how public any of that can or should be. And we did exchange a number of written communications with as committee with the Minister. And I think it would be helpful for people, for the public, to know how that process went back and forth and what the outcomes were in some cases. And I think as much as...

Thanks. Can someone, then, point me to which specific section of the bill provides that authority? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, thanks. So we don't get an annual report now from the forest superintendent. I got a commitment that it'll probably occur in future reports; that's great. I just would like to have it in the bill itself. So, Madam Chair, I'd like to move a motion to amend 15.1 if I could.