Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back when MACA had Commissioner’s land, we had started the work on a recreational policy framework on the area that we had covered or that was under our jurisdiction. Since devolution we’ve become responsible for 940,000 square kilometres, I keep reminding everybody. So we had to expand on the work that we’re actually doing. We’ve completed work through the MACA rec lease and policy, but we’ve had to expand on the work. Again, it’s building on the work that we were already doing through the Recreational Leasing Policy Framework that we were doing through MACA. I’m going...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that they just met recently in the community, the administrator and officials, on the capital plan. I haven’t had an update on that yet. This may be part of the capital plan, because I know it was in the works before the public administrator was put in place and they may continue to do the work. But I would have to confirm that and relay that information back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A decision was made not to entertain any applications in a focused area. This falls within the focused area. If we were to entertain any applications for this particular piece, then we would have other folks coming forward saying you need to entertain an application for this or for that. I think we need to treat all groups and those interested in leasing opportunities equally. The answer to the first question is mid-2016 our plan is to have all the work done.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we had the focus area, the moratorium on the focus area now I think has been in place for about two or three years. We had initially put a lot of it in place when we were doing the rec leasing from the MACA side of it on Commissioner’s land.

As to the actual timetable, I will find that information here as soon as I sit down and relay it to the Member when I stand up again for the next question. Thank you.

It’s not something that we are looking at right now. I know one of our sporting partners might be looking at something along those lines. But our sporting partners do provide a lot of workshops and that in the communities. They identify potential up-and-comers. We have a number of programs within the department that supports. Once they get to a higher level we have the Elite Athlete Performance Grant and we’ve had a lot of uptake on that. We have a lot of athletes competing and doing well. So, there are a number of programs that we offer.

Again, the concept is very good. One of the challenges...

We will do our consultation with the Aboriginal governments and get their views known. Again, the particular piece of property that we’re discussing, once the interim withdrawal expires, then we would consider taking leases on this particular piece of property. The issue we’re facing is we have had a lot of concern from folks around the capital that they find that too many of the areas are overpopulated and that’s one of the reasons we are doing this work, is we want to identify, through the rec leasing framework that MACA did… There was a lake that we had identified that had some potential...

Recreational is one of the highest demands here in and around the city. We have a focus area that we have withdrawn from any further potential leases until we do all the work to be sure that these areas sustain further development. We don’t want to be crowding these recreational areas. A lot of folks put up a small cabin and then they want to go out there for quiet enjoyment. That’s my definition of recreational, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Obviously, we want to work with the community and bring some of the wishes of the community forward, but this was a plan that was already in the works, and we will continue to see if we can carry out the plan. Once we do that, our officials at the regional level would work with them on the design, best practices, efficiency and the whole thing of financing. We will work with them on that, then the decision will be made whether to bring this forward or not, or begin the actual construction. There are some issues with the existing one, so that would almost cause this one to be a priority. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of Pages from Inuvik Twin Lakes that have been working here all week: Dustin Smith and Chantel Schab, and they’ve been chaperoned by my constituency assistant, who I recognized the other day without saying her name. My constituency assistant is Leah Ipana, who’s chaperoning them. We appreciate all the work that the Pages do during our time in session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe I said it’s been in place for about three years now while we’re doing the work for the first part of it through Municipal and Community Affairs, as we’re doing the rec leasing policy framework. So we are anticipating that we’ll be done by mid-2016.

We have to identify a lot of areas within the focus area. We are looking at opportunities to possibly release some lots for leasing because these lots are developed and are within developed areas. We are looking at that possibility. We are expecting to make an announcement very soon on whether that’s going to go ahead or not. So, there will...