Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hope that this amendment can shed some light to the exchange that my honourable friends from Thebacha and Frame Lake just had.

The committee's initial motion was to remove any such temporal limitations on the Ombud's mandate. The Minister did not concur during the standing committee review. The committee has since worked with the Minister's office to try to find a compromise, understanding the government's concerns around wide backwards-looking powers of the Ombud.

A decision was reached that January 1, 2016, at the beginning of this government's mandate, was an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two members of the Kam Lake constituency: Mr. Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers and Kam Lake constituent; and Mr. Fraser Oliver, Kam Lake constituent and member of the NWT Teacher's Association. Thank you for being here today.

I would also like to recognize Mr. Dave Ramsay, the former Member for Kam Lake, and Mr. Garrett Cochrane, the former CA for the Member for Kam Lake. Thank you.

My apologies, Mr. Chair. I move the chair rise and report progress.

Mr. Chair, I move that the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole leave the chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I move that Bill 20 be amended by deleting subclause 15(1) and substituting the following:

15.(1) The mandate of the Ombud is to investigate any decision, recommendation made, or any act done or omitted, by an authority or by any officer, employee, or member of an authority, in the exercise of any power or duty conferred on that person or body by any enactment, that

(a) relates to a matter of administration or the implementation of a policy; and

(b) aggrieves or may aggrieve any person or body of persons in the person's or its personal capacity.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency work closely with the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly and the newly appointed Ombud to ensure that appropriate procedures are established to advise the Tlicho government of any investigations by the Ombud of the Tlicho Community Services Agency and for the provision of the Ombud's report to the Tlicho government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was going to say comments about fake news, but it appears the Minister has actually got some substantive replies, and I appreciate that.

One of the concerns that has been raised by, again, the internal correspondence that has been revealed through some of this reporting is that tourism officers don't feel that they have the resources to properly track the growth of these businesses and properly maintain enforcement.

The Minister talked about staffing positions that are currently in place, but based on what we are seeing, and based on these issues, is the Minister going to bring forward...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about the issue of unlicensed tourism operators in the Northwest Territories. I'd like to ask the Minister of Industry Tourism and Investment if he can speak to these issues. Internal documents reveal a significant number of complaints concerning illegal tour operators in the NWT. When was the Minister first made aware of these illegal operations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Committee Report 10-18(3) be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here we go again.

Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of Bill 20: Ombudsperson Act and commends it to the House.

Bill 20, sponsored by the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency, provides for the appointment of an Ombudsperson as an officer of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. The bill establishes the mandate of the Ombudsperson to investigate complaints about the administrative fairness of Government of the Northwest Territories' practices, in order to...