I move that this committee recommends that the government in the 2014-2015 fiscal year allocate an additional $300,000 to complement existing funding for on-the-land programming, to establish a guiding framework, including definitive safety protocols and tools, for evaluating outcomes of the planned program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The motion is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the ability to be able to bring this motion forward. The Minister has spoken to some of the components of this motion. However, committee still feels that we’re not quite there with having all those initiatives in place in terms of having a very successful on-the-land program.
It is also apparent that there isn’t a lot of uptake in the communities, albeit even in the Northwest Territories, because there has been no success in the RFP program, which tends to lend itself to the fact do we have enough money put in this program. That being said, I believe committee has still reached out to the department to formalize and to bring to the committee a very formal methodology and mechanism to, I guess, reassure us that we do have a guiding framework and a definitive safety protocol in evaluating tools in place. Up to this time, the committee has not seen these guiding principles, so it was with that in mind that committee and Members felt bringing this motion forward would help establish a more firm framework in order so that, collectively, we all want the same thing. We want to see a very successful on-the-land wilderness camp program.
With that, I’m sure other Members might have some comments. If not, I’ll ask for a recorded vote.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. I have Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Once again, because there’s a value attached to this and I’m extremely concerned about drawing down on the resources of government because we will have to, through a cutback exercise shortly, and everybody’s well aware that we did not have time to work in our $30 million that’s in this budget.
I won’t be supporting this motion, but this is a very important issue that the mover of the motion brings up, Mr. Dolynny. Giving the government $300,000 is just not going to work. There has to be a better way to address this very, very important issue.
To the motion. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be supporting this motion. I agree with Mr. Menicoche, it is, indeed, a very important program and needs the support that is required to make it successful. I’m confident that the Cabinet can find the way to make savings in the system to cover this.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate the Member bringing forward this motion. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, we have close to $800,000 earmarked for on-the-land programs in this year’s budget, $787,000 to be exact. I’ve also made a commitment earlier to provide the established safety protocols and the framework to Members, and we will get that to Members as soon as possible. Again, it was part of the RFP process. We also will continue to work diligently on finding a service provider for a wilderness camp here in the Northwest Territories, and again, we have to remain optimistic that that can happen, and it’s not because we lack the resources to do that. We have the resources in this year’s budget to allow us to do that and we are still going to pursue a service provider to allow us to do that. But I do appreciate the Member’s motion.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay.
