Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I spoke to in my Member's statement, the Department of Finance has come forward with a number of recommendations, changes to the Liquor Act. One of the ones I was specifically happy to see was four changes to special occasion permits. These are the permits that, you know, festivals often have to get and special events such as weddings. One was to streamline the process. Another one was to perhaps allow an annual special occasion permit for those events that happen every single year. And another one was to allow, in certain cases, whole site consumption. So not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At her February 2021 appearance before committee, the Ombud confirmed that the outstanding recommendations in her first 20192020 Annual Report are still relevant. She reported that "the recommendations really haven’t changed" and that she would "certainly repeat them before the end of her mandate to ensure they are still on the record." The committee believes it is important to reiterate the Ombud’s recommendations, as long as they remain unimplemented, before the end of her mandate.

Her recommendations for changing the Ombud Act are:

Broaden the definition of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of reviewing things is to eventually do something. And we have conducted a What We Heard report on the Liquor Act. We now have a report with a number of recommendations. And so my question to the Minister of Finance is when are we actually going to make some changes?

Now, Mr. Speaker, I'm well aware that there is probably no issue more divisive in this House than alcohol. We have communities with literal prohibition in this territory, Mr. Speaker. So it's fair to say that some of us aren't going to agree with how to approach this. But, Mr. Speaker, I believe...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not really opposed to this. I think it's fine for people to watch; I'd probably watch it.

I guess this came out of a bit of an ongoing concern at committee where people don't really realize what, I think especially Regular MLAs do. And I think the solution to that problem is we stop having the vast majority of our meetings incamera. We do business plans incamera. We just spent three weeks doing very tedious review incamera. And if people want to know what MLAs do all day, that's well, they can't see what we do. So I think it would just be much easier to review what...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I just want to give a bit of an explanation to the public here, that the legislative proposal goes to committee but the legislative proposal does not mean we will see legislation in the life of this Assembly. And I know that some of this is out of the Minister's hands but I believe with proper political will and, you know, some working with committee, we could pass the Liquor Act in the remaining year of this Assembly. And I really believe it is what we should do or else we risk all of this work just simply being a waste of time and not being done by the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to hear that we will be streamlining the process. I know it has been quite difficult for many and, you know, it's not fun to have a special occasion and then not be able to sell alcohol. And in many cases, the nonprofits running them is it's how they actually fund the entire festival.

My question, I guess I'm still a bit confused about whether this is actually going to happen. I heard we're going to get a legislative proposal. And another one of the examples in the recommendation report was that the recommendation to remove the requirement for retail outlets...

Mr. Speaker, I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that the Standing Committee on Government Operations' Report on the Review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Ombud be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Ombud and commends it to the House.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed the 20202021 Annual Report of the Ombud.

The Ombud Act requires the Ombud to prepare an annual report. The report includes information on the number of inquiries and complaints received. It can also include recommendations. The Speaker tables the report in the Legislative Assembly. Once tabled, the committee reviews the report. As part of the...

Madam Chair, for the third time, hopefully a charm, I MOVE that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and by April 1, 2023, establish a governmentwide policy that ensures all employees receive appropriate training on the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. The policy should ensure that all new employees receive training early on and all employees receive regular refreshers;

And further, that the government emphasize Indigenous recruitment and retention to fill access and...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I get that, you know, there's different classes of cost estimates and they have different specificity. You know, we know that the Fort Providence Transmission Line costs $60 million. The GNWT doesn't have that publicly anywhere but the federal government told us that when they gave us the money. So I'm just assuming we're in about the $60 million range of public money here. That's the assumption I operate on. But I would like to understand the reason when we pass money in this House for infrastructure projects we are not told the total cost publicly is that it...