Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Justice in regards to the Builders Lien Act.

Multiple NWT businesses are asking and calling for modern legislation in regards to the builders lien legislation. Following public engagement in March of 2021, the Department of Justice tabled and public shared published a What We Heard report. And in that report, it indicated that a bill would be brought forward later in 2021 but the bill still has not been tabled. And so I'm wondering what has held up this work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respond to all of the above.

The clausebyclause review of Bill 40 was held on March 19, 2022. At this review, committee moved ten motions. The Minister concurred with all ten motions.

This concludes the Standing Committee on Social Development's review of Bill 40. The committee thanks the medical profession and the public for their participation in the review process, the Department of Health and Social Services for the collaborative effort to improve the proposed changes, and everyone involved in reviewing this bill for their assistance and input.

Following the...

Mr. Speaker, in February 2020 I told this House a brief story. It was a weeklong conversation about one Northerner's challenge to access support services. Today, over two years later, Avery would still find the same barriers. Mr. Speaker, too many Northerners are falling through the cracks with the government's siloed approach to service delivery at the cost of residents' mental health, ability to thrive, and the government's bottom line.

We hear over and over again that the answer is integrated service delivery. But we also hear from the GNWT that we are years away from actually implementing...

Thank you very much, Minister. Minister, can the sorry, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if the bill will include mediation or arbitration as an alternative to court solutions? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Bill 47: An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, No. 2, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 28th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

On May 10th, 2022, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and completed its clausebyclause review of the bill. The committee received no submissions on the bill.

And I'd like to thank committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation. Individual Members may have additional...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 2nd, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that pursuant to section 91 of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, the Legislative Assembly recommends to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories the reappointment of Mr. David Phillip Jones as the Northwest Territories Integrity Commissioner, effective June 2nd, 2022.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worthwhile noting that there's definitely a sense of frustration in that a lot of us in this room came into this House with promises of pursuing procurement reform within the GNWT and a lot of changes that have whether they've come out of the review from this Assembly or a previous Assembly have not been implemented yet. So there's definite frustration out there. And I think if we fail to reform procurement for the GNWT, it's not going to be a success for any of us because I think that maintaining northern benefit is a common...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the review suggested incremental changes to GNWT procurement policy and processes. So I'm wondering while we don't have a work plan here today with a concrete date, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what changes have taken place with procurement in the NWT thus far? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northern Manufactured Products Policy provides incentives to support production within the NWT of goods purchased. But if the NWT is not making the effort to buy the products that the other arm is incentivizing, then the policy falls flat. Instead of manufacturing, innovating, and growing, northern manufacturers are setting up shop inside government departments to get their attention or in their inboxes to work through the application process.

Here in the NWT, the territorial government remains the most significant economic driver. And this government...

In favour.