Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think it’s probably fair for me to say that the Protected Areas Strategy, or what was known as the Protected Areas Strategy, has languished somewhat over the last couple of years. I understood that there was a renewed push to try to complete this network of protected areas. It’s in the mandate for the 18th Assembly and I know that the Minister -- it might have been the previous Minister -- made announcements about renewed effort to try to get this moving again and so on. I know the position was vacant, but how can we, you know, say on one hand we’re interested in trying to...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was just reflecting on the Minister of Finance's response to my earlier questions around the capacity of the ENR. Just so we're clear, I guess, what I'm looking for is I want to know what kind of capacity there is within ENR with regard to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, how many staff they've got, how they collaborate with Public Works and Services and Finance. It sort of sounded to me like Finance is going to take over the lead on carbon pricing and that's fine. They are bean counters, but I'm interested in making sure that the people that know something about...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’m looking at page 63, and there’s a reduction in conservation planning from 2016-17 to 2017-18. It’s around $105,000. Can the Minister explain the reduction here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I look forward to that bedtime reading. I don't know if anybody can answer this question or not, but I will try it. What kind of coordination, collaboration is there between ENR and Public Works and Services and, I guess, maybe Finance  the same Minister  with regard to carbon pricing? I think we heard maybe today at noon that there is some kind of a working group or something, but can anybody tell me who is on the working group, what they do and so on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to get that commitment from the Minister. Sorry, I mixed up my analogies a little bit earlier. I should have talked about trucks before the caribou. Clearly, the routing for the Slave Geological Province road was chosen by our government without any regard for caribou, as stated by the Minister of Transportation at least a couple of times in the House. How will Cabinet decide whether such a road can be safely built without causing irreparable harm to the Bathurst caribou herd, or has that decision already been made? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. On page 70, the words "climate change" appear, so I am just wondering if the Minister or his staff can just talk a little bit about what sort of capacity they have within the department with regard to climate change? How many staff are working on it? What do they generally do, and so on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister for his response. We know that the proposed Grays Bay port and road project, which is on the Nunavut side of the boundary, includes an all-weather road that passes through the calving and post-calving grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd. Is it still the position of our government to oppose development in the calving grounds of caribou herds and will he commit to communicate that position to the Government of Nunavut?

Okay, thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the explanation. I think there was one item from last year's budget. Sorry, I am going to spring this on my colleague from the Sahtu, but there were plans to do away with the check station at mile 222 on the Canol Road in the Mackenzie Mountains, and I think the department found ways to continue to do that work internally. Presumably, that station was still there this past summer, and we are looking at continuing that facility in 201718? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess, once again we have a situation here where positions are being eliminated before there is actually a plan in place, the functional review, so to speak. It follows this pattern of the fiscal strategy driving cuts in the budget again rather than looking at the workload that the department has to deliver on.

I have talked about the workload. There are five pieces of legislation the Minister has said he is bringing forward. We have air quality regulations, that are now behind schedule; the Bathurst caribou range plan; climate change work; fire management; a number of...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have raised the plight of the Bathurst caribou herd in this House since the beginning of our term, probably almost as many times as the Minister of Transportation has talked about the Yellowknife Airport. To date, the responses from Cabinet have been non-committal at best. Ministers say work is being done to create a management plan while plowing ahead with plans for an all-weather road into the heart of the herd's remaining critical habitat, including its calving grounds. The only concrete actions by our government to date have been harvester restrictions. Not...