Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it was a little difficult to hear you. I have a couple of questions here. The first one has to do with the numbers on page 10-17 for education operations and development. That’s gone down considerably, from about $3.5 million to $2.6 million or so. Can I get an explanation as to why?

I have one last question; I believe it belongs on this page. The Auditor General’s report on education referenced a number of things, but one of the things that I think was fairly strong in her report was that the department needed to do more in terms of data accumulation and program evaluation. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not that recommendation from the Auditor General was taken into consideration with the development of this budget. How much is being spent on this particular area within the department? Has there been an increase in the funds apportioned to data...

I appreciate that the Minister and the department don’t disagree with my point of view but, unfortunately, there’s no indication on the part of the department that money is going to be attached to this particular philosophy. That is a large concern. Thank you. No question there either.

I’m sorry, I need clarification on those numbers. I heard $250,000 for a total of $500,000. Could I get the other half of the $500,000, please?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reference a comment that the Minister made relative to the conference of management authorities. He said that the GNWT has three seats on this body. If GNWT has three seats, will the Minister agree to have one seat for a GNWT representative and allow those two other seats to be filled by members of the public or public organizations? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister for that. I would hope that that information would be on the website sooner rather than later and that there would be some public statement to that effect.

There has been concern. I certainly heard concerns at the meetings I was at about infringement on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by some of the provisions or some of the clauses in the draft act. I would like to know from the Minister what the department has done to deal with those concerns, those legal issues. I understand that there may be some kind of a legal opinion being sought, that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister is willing to talk to his department. That’s always a good thing. I would like to know from the Minister if he expects that this will be a public document or will it be an individual response to the people who asked the questions. I think, in my mind, the public is also owed these answers, not just individuals. When can we see this?

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that at least we’ve made some changes since last week. That’s a good thing, but I am concerned that the people that made submissions, the people that have concerns... For instance, I heard concerns from air carriers, I heard concerns from individuals, I heard concerns from organizations. How will those people and their questions be advised of the changes that have occurred to date? How will their questions which they posed during the consultation process be answered, and how will that information and the answers to all these questions and concerns also be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past December and January I attended public meetings for consultations on the Wildlife Act. The presentations were excellent and thorough but I came away with concerns for the act; concerns that were strengthened by submissions by a number of NWT organizations.

I want to start by saying that I appreciate the efforts of the Minister and the staff of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for their work in the development of the act over these lo many years and for the presentations and consultations that are recently concluded.

I will not comment on the...

Okay. So what was that $272,000 used for and are we dropping programs because we don’t have that revenue? What’s it being used for in this current year and how’s it going to impact the 2011-2012 budget?