Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have two witnesses here with me today. Mr. Mike Reddy, the legislative drafter with the Department of Justice, is on my left, and I have Ms. Alyssa Holland, who is a law clerk, on my right-hand side. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As chair of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, I am pleased to present Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act.

Bill 24 is the result of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures review of three reports submitted by the Chief Electoral Officer in the life of the 18th Assembly. The first, entitled "Modernizing Election Administration in the Northwest Territories," was tabled by the Speaker on May 31, 2016, and reports on the conduct of the general election. The second report is a white paper on the independence and accountability of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is where the Stanton Renewal Project is located in the capital budget. Can the Minister just tell us: are we still on track to have the project completed? I thought it was supposed to be done in November. We are almost at November. When is the transition to the new facility going to start? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this Bill amends the Elections and Plebiscites Act to implement the recommendations of the October 17, 2017 report of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures on the review of the chief electoral officer's report on the administration of the 2015 territorial general election, supplementary recommendations, and the white paper on the independence and accountability of election administration in the...

Merci, Monsieur le President. [Translation] Another area addressed in the report is emergency alert messaging to the general public which is not available in French. Obviously this is a very important matter. Can the Minister explain how our official languages are going to be incorporated into emergency services, including in alert messages and 911 services moving ahead? [Translation ends]. Merci, Monsieur le President.

Merci, Monsieur le president. [Translation] My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. An October 5th news release from the department says that there has been a significant improvement in French language communications and services, according to an independent audit. However, there are a number of deficiencies identified in the audit. First, what formal mechanism will be used to address and improve upon the services identified as being deficient? [Translation ends]. Merci, Monsieur le President.

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] Merci, Monsieur le President.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I hear the Minister. I don’t think housing got a fair shake in terms of the money that is flowing to the NWT through the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I think the federal government would be very receptive to increasing the amount that would go for public housing. I am going to leave that to the Minister to sort out. My point here is: we just have to be able to make sure that public housing becomes more of a priority for our Cabinet in the decisions that are made around what gets submitted to federal infrastructure pots like the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I know I bothered this...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, it has been, I think, two months since I have raised this with the Minister. I have suggested other changes in the past to the website because that is the place where the public can find out about what is going on.

I know the intention is to sort of have some sort of a campus atmosphere and all of this about that area, but, if there's nothing available to the public other than if they happen to pick up the capital estimates about what's happening with the old building, that's not a very helpful way to do this. I'll take the Minister at his word that those changes are...

Thanks for that. I don't have any further questions and thank the Minister for his work on it. Thanks.