Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, before Members finish this sitting and go their separate ways until the House sits again, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on our experiences together over the past few weeks and the past two years.

When the 19 of us met in November 2015 as newly elected Members, we agreed that the 18th Legislative Assembly needed to change the way it does business. I supported that priority then and I still support it today. So too, I believe, do all my other colleagues on both sides of this House.

One of the first changes we made included publishing the first-ever four-year mandate of the...

As soon as our government and our officials have been able to review the legislative agenda and as soon as we can determine the timelines and the proposed schedules, we would develop a critical path. I expect that we will be able to meet with Caucus at that point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I would review our legislative agenda. I would review every proposal. I would review every timeline, and I would review the resources that we have available, and we would review that with Caucus.

Historically, the final two years of an Assembly are often the heaviest when it comes to a government's legislative agenda. The 17th Assembly had a very large number of financial bills compared to previous Assemblies, as well as ten devolution-related bills making comparison to the 18th Assembly difficult. I believe that we are on track to deliver on a fulsome and ambitious legislative agenda for the 18th Legislative Assembly. I am prepared to review it and to see what will be required to make sure that we can complete our fulsome and ambitious legislative agenda. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Legislation can take a long time to develop, and we have a number of very large initiatives under way to bring forward in the latter two years of this Assembly. The revised mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories identifies 14 larger pieces of legislation for introduction in the 18th Legislative Assembly that we have been working very hard on.

Cabinet has directed the Public Utilities Board to consider the following principles when assessing net metering rates: costs should be transparent; costs should be borne by the customers; government customers should not be eligible for net metering; implementation criteria should provide certainty of benefits; and the capacity for individual systems taking part in net metering should be no greater than 15 kilowatts to ensure all residents and businesses should be ensured an opportunity to participate in the program. We will follow convention as per the protocol agreement to make sure that all...

It is very clear to me. The Public Utilities Board is an independent regulator, but the Public Utilities Board funding is voted on by the Legislative Assembly, through the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs' main estimates. The commitment that the Member is referring to, Commitment 1.4.6 on net metering, falls to the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.

With regards to who is leading the overall coordination of energy policy-making for the Government of the Northwest Territories, this is a corporate responsibility led by Cabinet with input from Regular Members, Aboriginal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize my wife Judy in the gallery joining us for our session today. Welcome.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome chief medical officers from across Canada who are meeting in Yellowknife this week for the annual meeting of the Provincial Territorial Medical Advisors. We are in good hands here today.

Those joining us here today include Dr. Stephanie Starks, Yukon Health and Social Services; Dr. Ray Dkystra, BC Ministry of Health; Dr. Cliff Fabian, BC Ministry of Health; Dr. Neil Hagen, Alberta Health; Dr. Jude Coutinho, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care; Dr. Bruno Rainville, Regie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec; Dr. Anne Tweed, Nova Scotia Department of...

Yes, thank you. This is a request from the community corporation, who was seeking matching money from the federal government as well. This will be to give them the capacity to access additional funding to get ready for the opening of the highway and anticipated increase in activities in the community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.