Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories Annual Report 2016-2017," and a "Letter from the NWT Association of Communities to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs Regarding Governance Training and Elections, dated September 19, 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we talk about accessing funding within the next fiscal year, it makes it a little difficult, as, like I said, there are some needs, there is training, there is capacity, there is equipment that needs to be built, so it will not be a short-term strategy. It will be a longer-term strategy that we need to look at. We have not forgotten the community of Tuktoyaktuk and the issues that they face now, with having the new highway that will be opening, but, like I say, we need to make sure that any provision of support that we provide is done in a comprehensive, accountable way to ensure that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a moment to recognize a constituent, David Wasylciw. Welcome to the House.

Yes, I do agree that there are a lot of acts and regulations that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs are governed by. Very many of them are out-dated. We do need to work on updating all of the acts and regulations. However, we have prioritized, based on the mandate of this Legislative Assembly, safety issues, other issues that are necessary, such as the Western Canada Lottery Act. I had committed previously in this House that issues that were brought up would be put onto a list. We are working with all the stakeholders to identify priorities. Some of them will not be able to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to date, no, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has received no complaints regarding the dual agency role of real estate agents. However, I would like to stress that within the act we do have a provision for a superintendent for real estate. If there are any residents in the Northwest Territories who have complaints regarding the potential role of a dual agency role, acting on behalf of the buyer and the seller, then please contact Municipal and Community Affairs, talk to the superintendent of real estate, and we will take note.

As stated in my previous answer, I do recognize that there are a lot of acts and regulations that we do need to update. The Real Estate Agent's Licensing Act was introduced in 1991. No significant changes have been made since then. Thanks to the Member, it is on our radar to actually put it forward to all of our stakeholders and ask to prioritize where it should be within our review of all the acts and regulations that we are governed by. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this point, no, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has not done any research regarding the dual agency role for real estate agents. It has not been identified as a priority, it has not been identified in our mandate, and it has not been identified as a public safety issue at this point, so, to date, no, we have not done any crossjurisdictional research.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a moment to recognize Samantha Thomas, who is our new director of the NWT Status of Women, and also Roxane Landry, who is also the new office administrator for the NWT Status of Women. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 9-18(2): Report on the Review of the 2016 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on Support to Communities for Municipal Services in the Northwest Territories – Municipal and Community Affairs" and " Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 798-18(2): High Cost of Participation at Youth Development Camps."

Thank you. I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up on Tabled Document 355-18(2): Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 385-18(2): Changes to Cities, Towns and Villages Act." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.