Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right I have Tim Mercer, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly. To my left I have the director of legislation division, Ms. Kelly McLaughlin.

Question has been called. The motion has been carried.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. I will take that as a general comment. Committee, we are on general comments. Ms. Bisaro.

There are a number of clauses, 15 clauses in total. We’ll go in groups of five.

I am referring to Ruskin was on the job before ATCON started. We paid them out. We paid out several contractors that were doing work for ATCON that they held us accountable for the bridge. Rowe’s didn’t have that leverage. Why did we pay all those other contractors and we’re not paying Rowe’s?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act sets the rules for how we do business as MLAs, Cabinet and committees. At the end of each Assembly, we normally draft a bill to make various changes that are required and came to light during the previous four years.

The most important provision in this bill is a trigger clause that automatically changes the date of the General Election in the Northwest Territories from the first Monday in October to the third Monday in November in years where the campaign period for a federal election will overlap with that in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been four years since I’ve wanted to see a Minister’s statement on dredging the port at Hay River. Amen. Hallelujah. We’ve finally got a statement that made that point.

We know the federal government is still not there and now at least the territorial government is listening. The crack of the door is open. Now we need to kick that door open and get this project going.

Last week I was talking about the fact that we are building roads, which used to be a federal responsibility, 75 federal, 25 for the territorial. If our federal partners aren’t going to kick in the...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 69, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 2, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 69 makes a number of amendments to the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. These include amendments to:

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allow for the duration of the Legislative Assembly to be extended in the event of a postponed polling day under the Elections and Plebiscites Act;

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align the sitting requirements of the Legislative Assembly with the Northwest Territories Act (Canada);

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clarify certain provisions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would there be an opportunity to commit to a multi-year approach? As opposed to spending millions of dollars in one year, maybe going to a multiple year, like going $400,000 and $500,000 a year for 10 years, as opposed to giving $12 million to the project.

We’re looking for a commitment financially to the project. Is the department willing to put that into their own end budget? Thank you.

One of the parties that we can’t get to the table is the federal government. Are we inviting the federal government to get into this deal?