Frieda Martselos

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 8.2(7) and have Bill 76, An Act to Amend the Electoral Boundaries Act, referred directly to Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 76, An Act to Amend the Electoral Boundaries Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 76 amends the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act to

Establish a Commission within two years of the 2023 general election;

Expand the size of the Commission;

Broaden the eligibility to serve as chairperson of the Commission;

Add geographic and place names to the relevant considerations of the Commission; and,

Modernize language, including by using genderneutral language.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, does the board of governors have the ability to veto or overturn a decision by the college president and senior management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the appointment of the new board of governors for Aurora College, can the education Minister explain how this will change executive decisionmaking at Aurora College and with the transformation into a polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Chair, you know, we sit here and as and we're using public monies and, you know, in private industry, this would never happen, okay. And it's you know, being in small business for 50 years and considering all the aspects that would happen if you had to go to litigation is really alarming, that we could just go and do this with a brush of whatever. And, you know, I have to really think seriously before I vote on this and I just don't like the whole taste of it because it's not okay for transparency and accountability issues when it comes to public monies, because we're doing this on...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I too am questioning some of the transactions. I know this is inherited; it's not with this Cabinet because it goes back to 2013. There's no Indigenous partners in this. There's another company that's called Ledcor. And it's an international company with NorthwesTel, in a P3, and we're giving them a settlement of $27,750,000. And it's questionable as to how these kind of agreements are done. I'm all for P3s if it's done properly and the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. And, you know, onus goes back to the legal teams that put these kind of things together. And I...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Ombud Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 2nd, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

Bill 61 is a private Member's bill sponsored by the Member for Yellowknife North. As such I, as deputy chair, assumed the role of chairing meetings about the review of this bill.

The committee sought feedback on Bill 61 and received eight written submissions. The committee held a public review of the bill on December the 9th, 2022. The input helped committee to...

Mr. Speaker, yesterday as Caucus chair, I pleased to table a consensus government convention that clarifies how this Assembly will consider and pass land and resource legislation that has been in partnership with Indigenous governments in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, before becoming an MLA, I served for 14 years as chief of the Salt River First Nation. I was at a table with Premier McLeod and other northern leaders when the devolution agreement was signed and negotiated. It was a hard-fought negotiation.

I want to be very clear that devolution was never intended to transfer the authority for lands and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize our MP for coming to visit us in this House, and welcome back to Fort Smith any time he wants, because that's where he went to school in the early years. I used to serve him on the line. I also want to welcome Jackson. I congratulate him on his grand chief appointment by all his people. That's a big achievement. And I want to recognize Brad who used to is a former Fort Smith resident. And of course Sholto, for all his volunteer work, not only with the dog mushers but Sholto is a great caterer and does incredible meals for the community at...