Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that this is an ongoing issue. I have raised the matter with the deputy and his officials. We’re looking at some options. There’s going to be contact with the community to see the depth and degree of the community concerns. One of the options I mentioned possibly to the Member is if there is a bunch or number of incorrigible buffalo, as there are on Highway No. 3, for example, when the hunting season starts, the buffalo are not to be seen after the first couple of shots or the first couple of bison are brought down. We’re prepared to consider...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act, be read for the third time.

I will confirm with the Member the time. We’ll try to work with the before-Christmas date suggested by the Member. The Member has mentioned the possibility of a buffalo drive to Saskatchewan. Once again, we want to check with the community to see the degree of their concern and is that the best option. We’re not going to rule anything out at this point.

I don’t have the exact number before me, but clearly too many.

---Laughter

We’re prepared to work with the Member and the community to resolve this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Income Tax Act to facilitate a child tax benefit that is also applicable for shared custody arrangements. It also adjusts the dividend tax credit and deductions for corporations with foreign investment income. Minor amendments are made to update or otherwise improve terminology. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will talk with the officials in the department, starting with the deputy minister, to see if we can follow up on that request.

I’ve had a relatively recent communication with the Minister from the Yukon and I’ve indicated to him in that conversation that we have, and have had, concerns about the Peel River watershed. There’s lots of activity there. We also have concerns about the efficacy and efficiency of our transboundary agreement that was one of the only ones that has been signed under the existing Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Agreement and that we are drafting a communication to open discussions on that whole issue.

The one area is going to be the possible access to bison tags. There is no harvest anywhere in the Northwest Territories at present for any harvesting except the aboriginal harvest. So there is no capacity to open up access to caribou tags anywhere at this point, given the pressures the herds are under. We’re looking at other types of animals besides bison. There is moose, of course, and depending where you live up north, there’s other things like muskox, as well, that could be considered.

The Member is correct.

The intent is to set up a broad, multi-stakeholder management plan for the caribou in the North Slave region that will include, of course, the aboriginal governments and the territorial government -- the Tlicho, Akaitcho, the Northwest Territories Metis Nation -- and it’s going to be a complex undertaking, given the fact that we have to look at the Ahiak, the Beverly, the Bathurst, the Bluenose-East, and significant overlap areas as well into Nunavut and some with the Beverly down into Saskatchewan. The challenge over the next two years is to get a process in place that will allow us to bring...