Cory Vanthuyne

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Lastly, I move that this committee recommends, to the extent that it is possible before the dissolution of the 18th Assembly, and for the public record, that the government provide a response to these recommendations, even of a preliminary nature, that the committee may publicly disclose. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that, when a technical working group is used in the drafting process, the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a collaborative lessons-learned exercise with technical working group members at the conclusion of the process, to provide recommendations on how it could be improved for future legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories undertake a comprehensive public review of all procurement-related policies with the explicit direction to modernize government procurement process and to ensure that NWT businesses can benefit and a healthy private sector is developed in the NWT, taking into consideration concerns and issues raised in this report, along with the committee's recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a standard process for how regulations will be developed for legislation that was developed under a technical working group. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Further to my opening comments, I just wanted to add a few more remarks. We recognize that this government is rather large, and it spends big sums of money. It does it through a number of various departments and projects. It does it in a number of various forms; public tenders, requests for proposals, standing offer agreements, and even sole sourced opportunities. As my colleague from Frame Lake mentioned, we are starting to delve more and more into P3 contracts.

I think what's important is that we recognize that each one of these areas has its own numbers of challenges...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that each technical working group receive a comprehensive briefing on the legislative process and where the technical working group fits within that process; and further, this briefing should make it clear to participants that each bill undergoes a two-stage process, involving public consultation and development at the bill-development stage, led by the sponsoring Minister, and a second in-depth review, led by standing committees, once a bill is introduced in the Legislative Assembly, which can include public hearings, research, and...

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to take this opportunity to really extend my appreciation to the committee for the work that they have undertaken. I do want to recognize that they have kept other Members informed as they were moving along through the process. At one point in time, there was genuine concern about this particular bill and its content, so I wanted to commend the committee for the work that they have done to reach out to particular stakeholders that provided some critical feedback and critical information that I think helped the committee moved this bill forward in a more progressive...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Lastly, I move that this committee recommends, to the extent it is possible before the dissolution of the 18th Assembly and for the public record, that the government provide a response to these recommendations, even of a preliminary nature, that the committee may publicly disclose. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that standards should be developed for the production of plain language materials to assist committees and the public in the review of bills, including appropriate reading levels, timelines for distribution, and what role the sponsoring department has in promoting proposed legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the 18th Assembly began, we had high hopes for the completion of land rights agreements, enough so that we enshrined the commitment in our mandate.

Mr. Speaker, I have said it several times in this Chamber: many of our priority areas cannot go forward until land rights agreements are resolved. Without them, we cannot move on many areas of economic diversification and growth; our goals in health, social just, and education are delayed; we will be set back in developing tourism, resolving land use questions, and dealing with a whole host of other public matters.

The...