Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure Committee on May 10th, 2016

[A voice]

Edmonton.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

You could try Edmonton, but still....

[A voice]

Yellowknife.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, Yellowknife.... It's strange but with the squished nature of our country, here is the place where you'd want to do some really interesting northern stuff. That's where the traffic is.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

We would have to try to have somebody look at the logistics and see what's possible.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

By somebody are we thinking of anybody?

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

If John would be willing, I'm willing to sit down with him, throw some things around, and come back. We both know the areas fairly well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Mr. Amos is waiting for his turn to talk.

[William Amos, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I vote for seven days. Gwaii Haanas will be great in September. The tourists will be gone.

I haven't heard anything, but I would like to hear—maybe from Mr. Cullen, briefly, after I have gone through my list—about Great Bear transport, because I think that if you are going to Gwaii Haanas, it could make sense to hit Great Bear as well.

I think it is very valuable for us to go to the north. My personal great interest in this one is the aboriginal collaborative piece. I think that is the more original piece. I think we have been discussing since time immemorial industrial pressures and visitor usage pressures, and what the right balance is. We can repeat that—and I look forward to a visit to Banff and Jasper to continue that discussion—but it would be just another chapter in the same book that has been going on for a while.

If my opinion were to be asked for, Gwaii Haanas and Great Bear are top drawer, and pretty much anywhere in the north would be exceptional. Reading the Nature Canada submissions and looking at proposed areas, which are not a sure thing, right now I think Thaidene Nëné is pretty close to a sure thing. Going to a place that is pretty close to a sure thing—or going to a place that maybe is not, but where we can have a look and maybe add our weight to a conservation initiative—would be better. Maybe the Edéhzhíe plateau or the Mackenzie valley.... There are a couple of others, and those could be explored, but I think the north would be....

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

One would be...to learn the lessons that got that one to its place and how we may be able to apply that to the new place.

[William Amos, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Yes, and another would be a place that is on its way. What is the nature of the discussions? What is working? What is not working? I can see the value of the ex post, and I can see the value of the during.

Anyway, those are my opinions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Okay. Cynara wanted to say a few things.

[The Clerk of the Subcommittee, Ms. Cynara Corbin]

I had a quick question in terms of formulating a travel plan and looking at the logistics. Do you have a preference? You have indicated that it might be complicated to fly from the west to the north, whereas there are more flights from Ottawa.

Would you see this as two separate trips—five days out west, then come back to Ottawa, and then go a week later—or do you prefer to just do it all together at once?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

It is not a terrible thought, simply because the north is its own thing entirely. To go in for a day into the north and say, “Tick, got it” is a bit offensive and wrong.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

I sit on the liaison committee, which is dealing with all the budgets that are coming through, which is why I am anxious to get this in. What is clear is that if we were to do the trip when the House is sitting, they are not going to let us all go. Budget-wise, we are trying to get people not to all go. Maybe we could do two trips. Some would go to one, and some would go to the other. That is a possibility.

[John Aldag, Liberal, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Just leave it at subcommittee.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I think we should bring that to a vote. Are we in camera?

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

No, we are not.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

You guys need to earn how to use in camera.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

There is the two-trip possibility. Why don't we look at that possibility? We also need to see if there is a way of doing it in one. I think one isn't going to be a lot of time for people. If we all get a chance to go, I would like to try for us to all go in one, if it will work. It really comes down to whether it will work.

Go ahead, Mr. Eglinski.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

What I would suggest is—if we are doing the parks, Waterton and the west coast—that we do the northern part by utilizing a charter aircraft. We all go up together in one aircraft. We could leave one morning and be there within to two hours. We could have a full day there and then come back in the evening, in a full day.

You could never do that commercially, but you could do it with a charter aircraft.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

That is what is happening with the fisheries committee right now. It is a bit hectic.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Yes. I know most of the outfits in Alberta. It can be quite easily arranged and take us exactly where we would like to go, or very close to where we would like to go.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

We have some work to do, to try to see what might work.

[John Aldag, Liberal, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I wanted to reiterate that if we end up in the Vancouver area, I would really like to see the Gulf Islands and the marine park piece put in, because we are not going to get that. There is a marine component with Gwaii Haanas, but that would be the only place we would be touching that.

If we go to the north, probably not....