Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the exploration side we have the resources that have been laid out in the business plan. We also, as a government with ITI and ENR, have been doing a lot of work on the issue of unconventional hydraulic fracturing. There has been work done with committee. There’s going to be more work done. We’re doing a thorough review of that whole approach to accessing tight oil. That will inform the way forward. If we move from exploration into development, we will, of course, be planning for what type of development, that is. We’ll be looking at the resource requirements on that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That money flows a little bit later in the fiscal year and will be brought forward as it has been in a supp.

At this point, we’re looking at agreements that would last 15 or 20 years.

The acronym MARS stands for Mutual Aid Resource Sharing Agreement. That is the agreement that encompasses the arrangements for fire suppression sharing of resources. Thank you.

This is not a federal program. When it’s a federal program, all the provinces and territories have agreements signed with each other. So if there’s a significant demand in, for example, Ontario and they need help and they call us and we’re able to send people, we will do that and we will recover our costs. Henceforth, going forward forevermore it will be listed right now under page 13-38 under work performed on behalf of others. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the comments from the Member. In regard to the reduced budget, part of the money that’s in the budget from last year that is not there this year yet is about $6 million that we got through special warrant and through the House to fight fires. So chances are, given the issue of the base budget, and the fact that things are drying out rapidly, and the relative humidity is dropping, and we’ve already had some fire starting, we will be back requesting further funding to fight fires as they do arise. So the $9 million, as the Member said, it is actually what we...

Yes, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, wildlife is valued by all people in the NWT and contributes to our well-being and economy. A new Wildlife Act is needed to effectively manage wildlife in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has prepared a draft of the proposed new Wildlife Act for public review and comment. This draft was developed with extensive input from Aboriginal organizations, wildlife renewable resource boards, residents, industry and other stakeholders.

To ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide additional input into the proposed new Wildlife Act, ENR is...

The Member referenced earlier, I think in one of his previous general comments, work being done monitoring in Fort Resolution and Fort Smith. This summer we have identified the need to do the work above and below Norman Wells to provide that same kind of monitoring. Over time, as we set up our community-based water monitoring systems, we want to be able to work with the communities and our own skilled resources to provide that assurance across the North. But for this summer there is going to be specific work done to do some of the testing that the Member has referenced. Thank you.

The Land Use and Sustainability Framework is an initiative that is being driven and handled through the Executive.