Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is what I thought I was going to hear.

We received funding under the devolution agreement, then, from the federal government to actually help us pay for this. This was part of the devolution agreement, so we are using the funds that we got to help pay for the board. Is that correct? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess we'd just have to see how this rolls out. On the same page in the business plan, there's this ominous line that reads, "ENR to return to Financial Management Board with alternate reductions of $500,000 in each of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020." That seems to have been deferred back by a year. Can someone tell me what that is all about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. One of the commitments made in the mandate of the 18th Assembly was to create a Northwest Territories Energy Strategy because the previous one expired in 2015. A draft NWT Energy Strategy was finally released to the public on September 25, 2017. It would be fair to say that very few of the standing committee's comments were incorporated into the draft.

The strategy proposes a confusing array of energy targets as follows:

A 25 per cent reduction of GHG emissions from electricity generation;

A 10 per cent reduction of GHG emissions from road vehicles;

A 40 per cent...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. $290,000. I don't know what the square kilometres for our portion of that network of area are, but that does not sound like a lot of money to start coordinated management planning and so on. I know Parks Canada spends significantly more for similar areas or national parks in the NWT. I am just going to leave that with the Minister, but when can he provide committee with a costed plan moving forward for the management of the territorial portion of Thaidene Nene? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. We still do not have a Bathurst caribou range plan, and not one square centimetre of habitat has been set aside or protected in any way for this herd. So far the harvesters have, and the Minister talked about this, made extraordinary efforts, and they have restricted their harvesting now for the last three or four winters. The harvesters are doing their part. Our government is not doing our part on protecting the habitat. When are we going to see a completed range plan that's going to start to look at habitat protection, more than just caribou...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we have to go and contract additional time on an as-required basis, presumably that would be a higher per-hour rate. Is that true? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In the Minister's opening remarks, and it is found in the budget address as well, there is $440,000 of new funding for conservation area planning. Is any of that for Thaidene Nene? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. We have some hints that there might be some federal money coming, so that gives us reason to cut back our contribution to boreal caribou monitoring? That just doesn't make any sense to me. I am going to leave this one for now. I do not think this is a good cut. I think it is another one that is being made for Cabinet's fiscal reduction strategy that is not evidence-based. I do not know why the department is doing this. It does not make any sense whatsoever. I want to move on, though, to barren-ground caribou, and there is a line item in the business plan that reads...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, and I recognize this is an area where the federal government should be providing some assistance, as well. Am I hearing, then, that the department is going to be bringing forward a supplementary appropriation to do this work? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to start by asking some questions about conservation planning. When can we expect that there is going to be a public announcement about Thaidene Nene being formally established? Thanks, Mr. Chair.