That’s good. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Next we have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Some of my questions were answered here on the caribou strategy line, but just to add to that: weren’t there any money set aside, or could be transferred, for the conclusion of a transboundary agreement particularly between the communities of Deline, Colville and the Nunavut government on a trans-boundary because of the caribou calving grounds on their side, but the migratory route on our side?
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a forum where those parties work together to consistently have management approaches for those herds in those areas, particularly the Bluenose-East, Bluenose-West, and Cape Bathurst herds. They do have funding available for some of this work. Again, those dollars primarily flow through the land claims and, again, we provide support to those boards for that cooperative agreement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Any further questions, Mr. McNeely?
transboundary agreement between the three parties I mentioned, the communities of Colville, Deline, and the Nunavut Land Use Planning Board?
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The agreement between those boards has been concluded. They do have that agreement amongst themselves. At this point, I’m not aware of a link between that process and the Nunavut land use planning process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Any further questions? Okay. Next we have Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to get an understanding in terms of the government’s work, especially this department, with groups that haven’t settled a land claim in terms of what kind of resources the government is providing in terms of assistance. I wanted to see if I can get some clarification in terms of Wildlife Management Boards. Is that strictly for land claim groups or does that include non-claim groups? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the known land claim groups there are different pots of money for different processes with regard to some of the environmental assessments. For example, there’s the IRMA Program for co-management of the wildlife resources. Most of that money flows from our department, GNWT working with those Aboriginal governments for the different forms in the engagement, et cetera, that we have with them on wildlife management. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Campbell. Any further questions, Mr. Nadli, sir?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if the deputy minister can provide an example in terms of how engagement is flowing in terms of non-claiming groups and if maybe he could draw an example perhaps of an instance where some work has been done with non-claiming groups. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One example would be the development of advisement management plans. The other one would be when we’ve recently established a committee for the development of a mechanism to manage the Bathurst caribou herd. Those are two examples where non-land claim groups come to the table and we provide support. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Any further questions, Mr. Nadli?
Yes, just maybe a final question, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to get some clarification. Where in this budget in the Interim Resource Management Assistant Program located? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Ms. Craig.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The budget for the interim resource management funding is found in the conservation assessment and monitoring division under grants and contributions.
Thank you, Ms. Craig. Any further questions, committee? I see none. Committee, under wildlife, grants, contributions and transfers, are we agreed with the information item on page 104? Agreed?
Agreed.
Okay. Next we have wildlife, active positions, information item on page 105. Any questions, committee? Are we agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed, thank you. That brings up back to page 103, wildlife, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $14,957,000. Are we agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed, thank you, committee. That brings us to page 106. Lease commitments, information item, any questions on page 106? Are we agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed. That brings us to page 107. Environment Fund, information item, any questions? Mr. O’Reilly?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. A couple questions here. There’s a fairly significant reduction in expenses called other expenses, and I’m just wondering if the department can… Or at least from the revised estimates for 2015-16. Just wondering if someone can explain what happened here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Ms. Craig.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. During 2015-16 the budget was increased partway through the year because we were implementing the Electronics Recycling Program and that was forecasted to be a one-time activity where we would increase those expenses and then in the 2016-17 budget that is being forecasted, it is back to a “normal operating year.” Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Craig. Any further questions, Mr. O’Reilly?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have one other question. For the Electronics Recycling Program, people pay a fee when they purchase an item, and the fee is basically used to try to pay for the recycling of that item when it’s finished. With beverage containers, there’s a part of the deposit you pay that’s a fee to help cover the recycling cost, but there’s also a deposit that you get back that’s sort of an incentive then for people that bring their beverage containers into a depot and get the refund for it. A colleague asked me to ask about the potential of having a deposit on electronics, so that when people take a TV back or something then they would get a deposit back. Then there’d be an incentive for people to take computers, mice back to the depot to get the material recycling and get their deposit back. I understand that we want to have our fees comparable to what they are in Alberta, because we don’t want to create an incentive for people to go down south to shop, but has the department considered a refundable deposit for electronics as part of that recycling program? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Ms. Kelly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department has committed to meeting with distributors and other interested parties in a year to review the fee structure for this program and that could be brought forward at that time. That could be considered. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Anything further, Mr. O’Reilly?
No. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Other than to say this is a great program. I was involved with it for a decade and really appreciate the work of the department and the staff on this one, so thanks.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Committee, any further questions on page 107? Environment fund, information item. Are we agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed, thank you. That brings us to page 108. Fur marketing service revolving fund, information item, any questions? Agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed, thank you, committee. That brings us to page 109. Work performed on behalf of others, information item, any questions? Mr. O’Reilly?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s a whole variety of changes here between 2015-16 and 2016-17 for a number of these programs. I don’t want to drag us through them all, but I noticed that in the Health and Social Services budget, they actually had a helpful line at the end of similar sort of programs where they said this was the end of a funding arrangement or here was the date that this arrangement ended. That I think would probably pre-empt a guy like me from asking all sorts of questions. I’m trying to be helpful here. I even got a thumbs up from the Minister of Finance. I don’t think that’s ever happened before in this House.
---Laughter
I’m just trying to be helpful and suggesting that maybe that extra level of detail here might be more helpful in the future, but… Yes. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will provide that for this particular page even and we’ll consider doing that in the next one too, so thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Schumann. Any further questions Mr. O’Reilly?
I don’t think so. Maybe I can just ask for a general comment. There’s sort of big changes from 2015-16 to 2016-17. Presumably these are the result of the end of a research program, a funding arrangement, that sort of thing. I just want a general answer from the department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Ms. Kelly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Many of these are programs that have started and are at one year of funding or have a couple of years of funding and then that funding ends their partnership funds, so you’re correct with your assessment as you described it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
