Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund Annual Report, 2011-2012. Thank you.

The Giant Mine site is not part of the devolution negotiations. It’s going to be separate and apart from that process.

In terms of the questions the Member’s raised on behalf of his constituents, let me restate the offer that I would be more than happy, and willing and interested to come to committee with the officials that have been at the table to talk at great length about the decisions made, the detail that would address some of the many concerns raised by the Member. While it may not bring us to consensus, it would at least show that we are there, we are fully participating. This is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do recognize that this whole project, and all the steps taken and everything proposed are a subject of great debate and there is no unanimity. There is a requirement, at the end of the day, to make the best decisions possible to try to move this project forward, remediate the site and get the job done on an issue that has been with us now for, literally, decades.

I would point out that while we are an active participant in this, this is a major federal site. It will continue to be a federal site in perpetuity going forward. We are involved. The issue is I would have to have the Member show me or prove to me in this area where there is a multitude of opinions, while we may disagree how what it is being done does not protect those interests. They may not agree. They may not like them. They may prefer another approach. Decisions had to be made and were made and we’re doing the best job possible. I would be happy to have that discussion with the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was not an issue that came before Cabinet for any type of approval or review.

They form part of the fire system that we have for detecting and responding to fires. The lightning system feeds into the Fire Centre in Fort Smith and tracks by computer, the lightning strikes that occur with the technology that’s installed in these lightning detectors. The cameras and the fixed observation sites are where we are surveying the landscape, and looking for signs of smoke and other signs that would lead us to believe that there may be fire activity.

There is work, of course, being done on an ongoing basis in monitoring and evaluation on the barren land caribou. We’re in the process of working with the federal government on a National Boreal Caribou Strategy. We have our own, but given the concerns of the near extinction of the Boreal caribou in Alberta, it’s taken on a much greater significance. We’re working on that. We are going to do, and will do, the work for a survey in November. When we have the numbers in and information before us in terms of the general health and population, then we’ll be able to have an informed discussion about...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Those are pieces of equipment that give us 24/7 capacity to survey the landscape tied into the various towers we have. They feed information into the system so that we can track what’s happening without necessarily having a person in the area.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t believe so. We do know that as a result of the extensive time that was spent in the air throughout the region, they did find throughout the course of the summer six dead moose. They don’t believe anthrax is what killed them; however, they erred on the side of caution and we’ve gone to the Canada Food Inspection Agency and are awaiting the results. We do know that there is concern about the bison populations across the South and North Slave and in the Deh Cho. We are in fact going to be initiating a moose survey this October to give us a better idea of the...

Thank you. I’m speaking English, not German. Nine, Madam Chair.

---Laughter