Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Members may speak to the object, expediency, principles, and merits of a bill at second reading, and I will certainly take that opportunity with the proposed Mineral Resources Act. We have had it for less than 24 hours, to review the 65-page bill.

I will speak to the process that got us here and how that could and should have been better. I will also provide some comments on the approach of the bill and concerns with what is there and what is missing. There are some good things in the bill, as well, Mr. Speaker.

This bill will replace the Mining Regulations under...

[Translation] The situation for the Francophone school board is different in that its commissaires now represent two communities with different terms of office for their respective communities. The best solution may be to allow our district education authorities to set their own terms of office, with the approval of the Minister. I am sure the Minister is aware of this complication, but I am wondering whether her department has contemplated a solution for the term of office issue? [Translation ends.]

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to assure the House that I gave these questions to the Minister in English beforehand.

[Translation] My notes show that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment was at the meeting of Yellowknife MLAs with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 on December 13, 2018. We discussed the need to change the term of office for trustees. Has the Minister received a formal request from the Yellowknife district education authorities requesting changes to allow for a four-year term? Thank you. [Translation ends.]

Merci, Monsieur le President.

[Translation] Yellowknife MLAs met recently with the trustees of Yellowknife Catholic Schools and Yellowknife Education District No. 1 and the Commission scolaire francophone des Territories du Nord-Ouest.

The City of Yellowknife held a plebiscite on extending the term of office for councillors to four years from three. Of the Yellowknife voters who voted, 60.6 percent were in favour. Yellowknife City Council subsequently completed passage of a bylaw to extend the term of office for mayor and council to four years.

As all Yellowknife MLAs now know, the term of office...

[Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the answer. I understand that there is a heavy legislative agenda finally before us. I am wondering whether the Minister is of the view that what should be a small change to the Education Act can be made during the life of this Assembly, and if not, how do we make sure it gets dealt with before the next election, which is due in 2021? [Translation ends.]

[Translation] Thanks to the Minister. Does the Minister agree that the significant additional costs for the Yellowknife district education would be better spent on our children's education rather than holding their own elections? [Translation ends.]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, it looks like it would take a change to the Education Act to adjust the terms of office for district education authorities to account for the four-year term of city council. The current wording in the Education Act already contemplates coordination of the terms of office. However, it does not deal with the situation we are now in, where a local government body has a term of office beyond three years, or for the CSFTNO, where there are different terms of office for the local governments that its commissaires represent.

Although we have some time to deal...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following five documents: "Marketplace Sensitivity Analysis, June 21, 2018; "Survey of Exploration Agreements," undated; "Survey of Impact Benefit Agreements," undated; "Benefits Agreements in Legislation," May 25, 2018; and lastly, "Saskatchewan's Mine Surface Lease Agreement and Human Resources Development Agreement Regime Review," undated. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Well, thanks to the Minister for that. Look, I just want my colleagues in the House and the public to understand that there are some more steps that we have to do to make sure that our families and parents enjoy the best possible benefits. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, as our government is obviously going to lag behind the improved parental benefits offered by the federal government nationwide, I would like to ask the Minister what lessons we have learned from this experience to make sure that our families receive the best possible benefits in the future?

Thanks to the Minister for that. I have expressed my disappointment that we won't be able to meet the federal implementation date of the employment insurance changes on March the 17th for improved parental benefits in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister tell us when we can expect to see amendments to our employment standards that come forward to this House?