Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do plan on doing some communication to the public so they can understand. That's just a given. As far as a dollar figure, I don't have an exact dollar figure, but the money will be from within the $88 million that is appropriated for Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.

I would love to. I respect and understand the Member's position. He has always taken the same position, but I am of the opinion that the department has fulfilled many of the mandate items on top of doing all the work that was tasked before them before our 235 mandate items came forward. I think the department has been adjusting. It has been an adjustment for a lot of the departments because they continue to do the work.

As you see the results of the work that they are doing, a lot of the new initiatives that they are working on are much appreciated by a lot of folks across the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The short answer is yes. We work with all of our Indigenous employees, and I think that there are a couple of programs to try to get them some management experience. If employees are identified as though they might be able to move through the system and are capable of becoming managers, then we would work with them to give them the proper training that they need to move them along. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am a little confused here. We may have responded to the report of the Auditor General. I know that there were a number of recommendations that were made in there, and we responded that we were acting on all of those recommendations. I will commit to the Member, because my understanding is that we did respond to that, but I will confirm that and share it with committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are doing a lot of work in this particular area. Wolves and harvesters are just part of the work that we are doing. Those seem to be the ones that are highlighted all the time, so those are the ones that would get the most attention, but there is a lot of work that goes on as part of our regular work within the management of caribou. I am going to, through you, Mr. Chair, go to Dr. Dragon to give us an explanation of some of the work that we have ongoing. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't assume anything. If I have something to say, I will say it, and then I do, and some people may not like that. I'm sorry. That is just the way it is. I can assure the Member and all Members of this House that everything we do we do in an open and transparent manner, because you have nothing to gain by not doing it. This is public money. This is a Heritage Fund, so, if we need to have a discussion more on the RFP and the situation there and if the Member missed a briefing or if he didn't catch it, then I suppose it should be on me, as Finance Minister, to fill...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am appreciative of the Member's support for our hard-working staff, who do a lot of good work over at ENR. I am glad he recognizes that, so I will say no more than that.

As far as the reductions go, initially, when we started the 18th Legislative Assembly, for the first two years departments were given a reduction target. Because some of the proposed reductions or revenue streams that ENR had initially proposed weren't where they should be, ENR had come back to the FMB and said that they may need to put off their reductions for one year. As Members recall, I said that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, who is the deputy minister of Finance and also secretary to the FMB. To my left, I have Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that the reductions were part of the business plan. I think what may have been a little confusing is that some of the restatements that we have done may have confused it a bit. I have committed to the Member that we are going to be providing them information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding in talking to the deputy is that within a month or so we will be able to bring it to Cabinet and get Cabinet's input. Then I believe it will go out to the public afterwards; go out to committee, then the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.