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. This will be my last reply to the budget addressed for the 18th Assembly, and I look forward to thunderous applause from my colleagues across the way. I have organized my reply in the following manner, with some general comments that review the process revenues and departmental highlights. I conclude with some advice to future assemblies.

Cabinet's cuts to programs and services appear to have come to an end except for one department, and that's Environment and Natural Resources, and I will have more to say on that issue a little later. We continue to run up a debt...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Well, if I have anything to do with it, that bill is going to fly straight through here. Wow, I actually got an applause from the other side of the House for a change. One of the easiest ways we can extend and improve federal parental leave benefits to our employees is to mend relative collective agreements. I know that is a sensitive area right now, but can the Minister tell us whether our government has made an offer to the relevant unions to mend collective agreements to allow our employees to take full advantage of the improved parental leave benefits?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. First off, I would like to commend the Minister for fast-tracking public consultation on changes to the Employment Standards Act and to indicate my strong support for including domestic violence leave. The public consultation on this process ended January the 14th. Can the Minister tell us what the next steps are? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.