Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories expedite work on the new Health Information Act with a view to introducing a bill as soon as possible; and further, that if the government is not able to introduce this bill in the fall sitting, the standing committee recommends that the government table a detailed progress report in that sitting, identifying a timeline and any additional resources required so that a bill may be introduced within the 2013-14 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Nadli.

The Financial Administration Act Section 74 states that, “unless the Legislative Assembly otherwise fixes a date, the public accounts for the fiscal year must be laid before the Legislative Assembly on or before December 31st following the end of the fiscal year or, if the Legislative Assembly is not then in session, not later than 15 days after the commencement of the next session of the Legislative Assembly.”

The present committee reviewed the practice of previous governments and Legislative Assembly committees with regard to the public accounts...

I guess I can’t agree with the Minister’s assessment of that. Giving an organization money in one year and then pulling it in the next year because we funded you for that project, now we’re only going to fund a new project, in my mind, is destabilizing, not stabilizing.

We have a $1.6 billion budget within this government, and a twofold increase doubling the value of the NGO Stabilization Fund amounts to a 0.02 percent increase to our expenditures bottom line.

I’d like to ask the Premier if he could provide a rationale for the rejection by the Cabinet, by the Minister, his rejection of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Executive and the Premier. For the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we’ve heard from many Members today, and the NGO Stabilization Fund has been a priority for that committee, and the committee has corresponded with the Minister over the last year several times about the NGO Stabilization Fund. We’ve provided input and we’ve been dismayed to be told by the Minister that a review of the fund found no reason to make any changes to the criteria. Unfortunately, that view is supported by the Social Envelope Committee...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members will have heard during the reading of the report, committee was somewhat concerned that the allowance for doubtful accounts had risen well beyond 30 percent and considered that that was too high a figure. This motion asks the government develop targets and measures specifically in terms of collections and in terms of reducing the allowance for doubtful accounts. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, I too will speak about NGOs and the NGO Stabilization Fund today. To be clear, I fully support the concept of the NGO Stabilization Fund, but I have concerns with the current purpose and value of the fund.

NGOs are so very important in the Northwest Territories. They provide vital programs and services to our residents, services not offered by GNWT departments. NGOs work tirelessly to improve the lives of Northerners and this government gives them little financial support. I want to say emphatically that I find no fault with the staff who manage the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the Minister of Finance provide the committee with the interim public accounts by August 31st of every year, in time for committee review of the government’s plans. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the Minister of Finance provide the committee with the final public accounts immediately upon sign-off, with the understanding that the committee may conduct a public review before the document is tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is an issue that the standing committee felt was extremely important. This is something which the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been recommending for many years, and from what we understand, the department has started to do some work on looking at access to information and protection of privacy legislation that would include municipalities. We urge them to speed it up. This motion, again, identifies that this is a very serious issue which the committee feels very strongly about.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and my colleagues. I appreciate the opportunity to make a few brief remarks.

I think it’s important that we recognize the committee felt very strongly that the Health Information Act is a very necessary piece of legislation in the era of electronic medical records. Because of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s very strong recommendation that we needed this kind of legislation to cover privacy around health records, the committee felt it was important to bring this motion forward, and I just wanted to emphasize the importance of this. We have heard previously from...