Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand that having separate offices is an important distinction, but the witnesses that appear before us were of the opinion that that may not necessarily address the question of possible conflicts of interest as fully as they would like. So could I ask the Minister, for the record, to elaborate more about why those separate offices are necessary and how that would address this concern and what other procedures are in place to make sure the government addresses any potential conflict of interest question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you can see from the report of the committee which was prepared and delivered by the hardworking Social Programs committee…

Thank you. Could I ask the Minister to engage his officials to do more, take an extra step? Maybe they are doing that already, but maybe I can get a confirmation from the Minister. I know that not everyone goes through realtors, but a lot of people go through realtors when they buy properties. When you are closing your transaction, realtors have packages of information for purchasers to be aware of whether they're banking, insurance information, fuel delivery and such. I am wondering if the Minister’s department will make a conscious effort to get those documents to them. I am assuming...

I’m sorry, Madam Chair. Before we go to clause by clause, I would like to just put on record that the Minister’s commitment that would be binding I would think to the next government, that at the earliest opportunity they bring legislation forward to enable professional corporations. Could I ask the Minister to confirm that for the record? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe I should also say hi to Emily and Myra. They should keep watching and run for office some day.

Madam Chair, the committee held public hearings on Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act, in Yellowknife on April 19th and 20th; on May 8th in Tuktoyaktuk; in Inuvik on April 23rd; in Ulukhaktok on April 24th; in Colville Lake on April 25th; and in Behchoko on April 26, 2007.

The committee would like to thank the Minister and the one witness who spoke to this bill on April 19, 2007. The committee heard from Glen Tait, a lawyer in private practice in Yellowknife. Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier’s sessional statement indicated that the negotiations are underway and that construction could begin as early as this fall. So I’d like to ask the Minister about what the timeline is. While he cannot reveal all the details, it certainly sounds like the deals are imminent. So could he give us an indication as to whether it’s weeks away or months away or what is the timeline of that negotiation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are on the Premier’s statement yesterday about the negotiations going on about the concession agreements and the project financing of the Deh Cho project. I think the questions could be answered by either the Premier or the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, I just want to preface it by, obviously even though I support this project 1,000 percent, it has to stand on its own leg and make a sound business case. But business case for public business is a little different than a private business, which is profit motivated. A bridge like this...

Maybe our Law Clerk can help me with this. It was committee’s understanding that the Law Society was formally contacted. I think it’s important that they have a say in this. It was our understanding from somebody that this was communicated to them and they had no objection to this amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Austin. One of our witnesses, Ms. Peterson, when she appeared before us, she gave us an example. I think in her view, even if you have separate offices in legal services, that is not any different from any law firms and many large law firms and even law firms in Yellowknife where they have offices in Yellowknife, Vancouver and Toronto. There are lots of branch offices here where they are headquartered elsewhere. Even if a lawyer has a file in Yellowknife, a lawyer employed by that same law firm based in Vancouver would not be able to take on the other side of the same file...

…ever so conscientious, and we’ve done travels on this bill and others. You know, this bill is very interesting and it is trying to address the larger public interest goal of making access to legal services and legal counsel more available to those residents in the NWT who qualify for legal aid. I think everybody is aware of the shortage of lawyers not only here but everywhere in Canada, and we have heard over the years about the serious backlog in family law files and criminal files, which are the other…Probably the criminal don’t have as much of a waiting list as family files but, at any...