in addition to the department of lands and forests, he was also assigned responsibility for the department of northern development. he also became an advocate for the expansion of the provincial parks system probably the first influential politician in the province to do so and was instrumental in swapping timber limits with the spanish river company in order to save the natural beauty of trout lake (later renamed as o.s.a. lake), which was incorporated in 1964 into the newly created killarney provincial park.