Caitlin Cleveland

I understand that the financial administration policy on the timing of payments to vendors provides for certain exceptions that allow for immediate payment upon receipt of invoices from language translators or interpreters, justices of the peace, coroners, and sheriff's bailiff services. Would the Minister be willing to consider expanding these exemptions for small northern businesses?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance for the rationale for the delay of three to four weeks in making payments to GNWT vendors, as set out in the Financial Administration Manual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(1) to allow the first reading of the bill I gave notice of earlier today.

As part of the legislative review process, what public bodies will the GNWT engage as they modernize the Public Service Act? How will constructive participation be assured? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, who is sitting next to my mother, Kam Lake resident, Carole Tetlow. I would also like to thank her for teaching me the importance of building up people in communities with our hearts as our compass.

I would like to also recognize Sir John Franklin High School students, young women, and Kam Lake residents, the ridiculously talented Lana Saunders and, also, smart-as-a-whip Adrienne Lam, who are working as Pages today and paving their own path to becoming future leaders.

I also notice a neighbour of mine, Sara Minogue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, December 12, 2019, I will move that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the first time, and, Mr. Speaker, later today, I will seek consent to waive Rule 69(1) to have Bill 1 read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, for many years, we have discussed the modernization of the Public Service Act. With over 5,000 public servants providing essential programs and services to nearly 45,000 Northerners, it is our responsibility to ensure our public service is competent, efficient, skilled, results-oriented, managed in a transparent manner, and supported to maximize their effectiveness.

A modern Public Service Act would allow us to provide clearer staffing processes, build a framework for successful union-employer relations...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Friday, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, my mother laid a rose for one of the 14 women engineers murdered on December 6, 1989 in an act of gender-based violence.

As a young woman, my mother wanted to become an architect. She was scolded for wanting to take a man's place in school. When she applied, she was told first she would need to prove she could keep up with the men by completing a Pure Math Degree, a prerequisite not required by her male colleagues. She graduated in Montreal with honours and then from UBC with an architecture...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome local Kam Lake business owners, Manuel and Marta Jorge, who are sitting up in the gallery today.