Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate there is a steering committee and there is a process. My concern here is that, if you go look at the budget right now, there are published graphs and reports that no doubt someone created with underlying data. Every time I see one of those, I have to request, "Can I get that underlying data that actually make up this chart?" I'm not asking for information that's not already public. The way that this would be done, in my opinion, is: we have an information management and technological policy manual. It requires all sorts of things: translation, same look...

When can we expect to see that open data portal operational?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no doubt that almost every Member in this House would say they are committed to a more open and transparent government. However, I think there is a bit of disconnect in that open and transparent government doesn't happen without clear intention in changing the systems we operate in. Every single jurisdiction in Canada, except ours and Nunavut, has an open data portal, a place where you go to get all of the departments' data in one place. Right now, this is scattered across various GNWT websites in various different forms. My question for the Minister of Finance...

I look forward to hearing that timeline. I think, to me, there are two steps. One is getting the portal, and the second is populating it. I recognize it will take some time to get certain data in there. Right now, there is a simple matter of collection and putting it in one place. I believe we could start that work immediately, and then you will get this user feedback from departments and other people looking for this data. Step one, get the portal to exist. Step two, let's populate it. One of my concerns is the GNWT really loves its PDFs. The problem with that: most recently, we published...

Well, that was easy.

---Laughter

Thank you, Madam Chair. I suspect I am probably the only Member interested in the regulation of securities trading, and I don't know -- oh, sorry. I am getting some looks. I would like to speak briefly to the rental office. I understand the rental office is a bit of an arm's-length organization, but I have raised previously with the Minister some of these concerns and their ability to kind of make orders and address things more systemically. We had a briefing from the human rights office, and they have kind of switched to this model, looking at more systemic issues, issuing kind of larger...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I believe there was a system worked out where people could email and then some of the records were available online and some weren't. A lot of land titles, if you want, are still done in paper, so I am looking for a commitment from the Minister that we can bring our land titles office digitally online. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no issues, obviously, with land titles fees. Obviously, that is a fee, and I hope that office continues to charge them. My issue is specifically corporate registries, and very specifically the corporate registries' online system. I'll get to the point. It costs $4 to look up any corporate entity in the Northwest Territories. Most jurisdictions have waived this fee as an effort to transparency to see corporate records. These are public documents. It's a principle of good open data and open government to not put things behind a pay wall. Would a number of under...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am quite confident that both the Ministers of MACA and Lands would be quite curious to know if their departments are being amalgamated, so I look forward to the outcome of those discussions. Additionally, in that same speech following being elected as Premier, there was a commitment to mandate public surveys for all priorities for each department. Has that work been done, Mr. Speaker?

To be honest, I don't much care what the name of the department is, but I believe, when the Premier makes a commitment, it's important that it be followed through with, especially if it's solely within her authority. Additionally, during that speech, the Premier committed to requiring a gender- and equity-based lens be applied to any new program or service delivery in the GNWT. When can we expect to see that implemented?