Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask a few more questions to the Minister of Lands and follow up on some of my previous questions about the Recreational Land Lease Policy. The Minister advised that there is a moratorium, that there is land withdrawal and I’d like to first off ask the Minister, when did this moratorium and land withdrawal first start and when is it expected to be done? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
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.
Thanks to the Minister. I look forward to the answer with bated breath.
My next question goes to the difficulties the group that I’m talking about, the motocross group, are having in trying to advance their project. So I’d like to ask the Minister what’s the rationale for the department saying we won’t take any applications for a land lease now, we will not take absolutely any applications until this moratorium is over.
Why would the Minister not allow the department to take applications for people who indicate an interest and then not process them, but simply take an application? Thank you.
The intent of not taking any applications at all is so we can concentrate on the focus area and what it can sustain. I take the Member’s point, though, about just taking applications and not processing them and I take her point and I’ll have a discussion with officials. We need to make sure that we’re able to concentrate on the work at hand, get the rec policy framework done and then we can move forward in trying to identify potential spots in the focus area for possible lease opportunities. This is a huge issue right in the focus area because that’s where the greatest demand is. Across the rest of the Northwest Territories it’s not such a huge issue. That’s why there’s no interim withdrawal there. Thank you.
Thanks. I didn’t hear an answer to my first question, but I imagine the Minister is still working on that.
The Minister, again, is referring to a huge demand for cabin lots or for hunting and fishing licences. I want to say again that this organization is asking for a piece of land that is not going to be used for cabin-type activities. It’s going to take motocross, dirt bikes, et cetera, out of the woods and onto a track which is where they need to be. They are planning on education. They are planning on youth. They are planning on highlighting safety and all that.
I would like to ask the Minister, since this area is not going to be used for cabin-type recreational space, would he reconsider an application from the motocross group to let that land be leased? Thank you.
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. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. That’s a long time. That’s 18 months from now. The work might be done by then, but I guess it seems to me that this land withdrawal has been in place a lot longer than just six months.
When did this land withdrawal first start? Thank you.
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 be opportunities there.
I commend the patience of the people who are looking for recreational areas. They’ve been very patient with the Department of MACA and now Lands through the last three years. We thought this was a way we could possibly get some out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
