Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to thank my colleague from Nunakput who raised this concern earlier this week, about what, if any, strings were attached to the airline assistance, maintaining minimum levels of service to communities, and so on. Can someone just explain to me a little bit more about how that works? What kinds of strings are attached, if any, to the funding to the airlines? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madame la Presidente. My question is for the Minister of Justice. We have one of the best access to information and protection of privacy laws in the world, but it's still not implemented. Can the Minister provide an update on the status of implementation of the new legislation, including reduction of fees, identification of classes of records that do not require an ATIPP application, and other reductions in costs for applicants? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I, too, support this motion. I had cause to use the access to information process in the last Assembly as an MLA because Ministers would not share documents sometimes, believe it or not. There was some interesting material that was sometimes exempted or redacted and differences in the way that different departments approached this. I think having people consistently work together from different departments to offer better consistency and responses to applicants is a good idea, and I support this. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that response. If this comprehensive review has been going on for months, can the Minister commit to share some of that information with this side of the House so we have a better understanding of what legislative changes the Cabinet is looking at making to better allow us to respond to the pandemic? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that. One of the sections, 2(2), says that an order will only come into force seven days after Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight actually gets a copy of that. I've never seen a copy of an order issued under this legislation, so I don't think it's ever been used. I'm just wondering if the Minister knows, we went to great lengths to pass this legislation quickly, why it hasn't been used? Can the Minister explain why this legislation is yet to be used?

Merci, Madame la Presidente. Yes. One of the hallmarks of developing this new legislation was the strong consultation and input with stakeholders and even Members on this side of the House. It was, I think, a good way of bringing forward legislation, and the Minister even spoke about that himself. Can the Minister, though, tell me when we can expect to see draft regulations to finally realize the potential of this legislation, and will he commit to share those regulations with standing committee for their review and comment? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that early Christmas present. A major change that was introduced in the amendments was extending the legislation to include records held by municipalities. In the spring of this year, the then Minister of Justice told me that a working group was formed with representatives of communities to ensure that they were going to be part of the process to develop those regulations. Can the Minister tell us what is going on now in terms of the application of ATIPP to community governments, and when will this actually happen?

Merci, Madame la Presidente. Today, I am going to return to the issue I first raised in the winter session regarding the implementation of amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. As I pointed out then, a lot of good work and cooperation went into the new legislation with excellent changes introduced as a result of extensive consultation with GNWT departments, public bodies, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the general public. Improvements included the reduction of mandatory exemptions, the power of the Information and Privacy Commissioner was also...

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I wish to speak to this bill. The main purpose, as I can see, is to reduce the small business tax rate from 4 percent to 2 percent, and I'm sure the Minister of Finance will explain at some point that this is to bring our small business tax rates in line with some of the other jurisdictions in Canada. I am not opposed in principle to reducing taxes, but I think we need to look at the issue of tax fairness. This will result in our government losing some revenue, and I'd like to know how much. I think the public deserves to know that, as well.

I am mindful that the...

I want to thank the Minister for that. Why I'm raising this is: back on April 11th, just at the beginning of the pandemic, I contacted the then Minister of Justice by email suggesting that our government look at the possibility of an omnibus bill to make sure that we have the right kinds of things in place to properly deal with the pandemic. We've seen a few of these things roll out over the last few months now, but can the Minister of Justice tell us whether there's further changes, legislative changes, that are being contemplated to better allow us to respond to the pandemic?