Kevin O'Reilly

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...

Thanks for that. I thank the ADM for the explanation. So, the money for the contracts, that would show up where in this function, under contract services, which has increased? Is that where it would show up? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess what I'm hearing then is that positions are being cut in the budget. The funding is being cut in the budget, and they're going to do some sort of a functional review. They may come back. The Minister might come back at some point during the 201718 fiscal year for supplementary appropriation for additional positions. Is that what I'm hearing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, one other quick question depending on answers. Page 80, water strategy action plan is being reduced. From 201516, we've seen this decline from 585 down to 325 for 201718. I believe this is money that's provided to perhaps Aboriginal governments to make sure they are engaged in implementation and negotiation of these agreements. Is that what this is for and why is it declining? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Great to hear that we are going to have a functional review, but are the figures in the main estimates correct then in terms of the active position reductions and the reductions in, it looks like it is the corporate services function within this section? Are those the actual figures or have they been changed in some way? Thanks Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the level of detail provided by the ADM. That’s helpful. We have the materials now. Presumably, they’re being distributed and there’s some assistance from local and regional ENR staff. I’m not sure that’s quite good enough to make sure that source water is actually protected. We need the plans.

I don’t think it’s just ENR’s responsibility, clearly. There’s a role for MACA here as well. MACA does spend a lot of money and tries to build capacity within the communities to have sound water systems for communities. Part of that is to make sure that the source water is...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister, but I will continue to disagree that we have the capacity to deliver, but time will tell, and I will look forward to the progress on this initiative, and I will continue to monitor it as it moves forward. Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's all I've got.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response. That’s good to hear. If I just do the math here and add in 441k from 2016-17 to 2017-18, there are obviously some other things that are going on here within the Watershed Management function of the ENR.

Sorry, I’ll just digress here for a second. Part of the problem is there’s just no detail provided in the mains or even in the business plan about what this money is being spent on. I guess I would urge the department to find a better way to present what’s going on with these functions in their business plan so that we can actually see where any...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just would like to ask a few more questions about the staffing levels within ENR then when it comes to this conservation network initiative. How many other people are working on this initiative within the department? Thanks, Mr. Chair.