Kieron Testart

It's somewhat unfortunate the Minister hasn't had time to look at this report. It was released earlier this month. I would assume it would be of interest to him and his department, but some of the findings do address what the Minister's just spoke of. The report mentions the challenges the North face, but we also have the second highest rate of violent crime in Canada and the highest rate of property crime. The report also found that the Northwest Territories funds little on legal aid compared to other jurisdictions. We received an F in support for victims, according to this report, with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources acknowledge and reference the Auditor General's report and recommendations in the Climate Change Strategic Framework. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize my constituency assistant, Mr. Garett Cochrane. This is the last day of session, and he has been invaluable over the last several weeks in helping me prepare for the day's work and helping me keep in touch with my constituents. I want to take the opportunity to recognize his service. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this assembly recommend that, in future, any Government of the Northwest Territories department being audited provide the Standing Committee on Government Operations with a copy of its action or implementation plan at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than three business days prior to the public review on the Auditor General's report, consistent with the process convention on communications between Cabinet Ministers, standing committees, and Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, yesterday, I reported the bill, and I won't go in at length. It was fairly lengthy yesterday. The key issue here is climate change's major impacts on the Arctic. Of course, that has huge consequences for our jurisdiction.

Northerners know that the recent years of forest fires and coastal erosion, permafrost erosion, these issues are live issues that affect them, affect their communities, affect their families. The expectation is that we have a robust framework and mechanism to deal with them. Unfortunately, in previous years, that was not the case. That is what...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to reiterate that the committee is not putting forward this report, of which it is asking for a report in 120 days, for the purpose of criticizing the hard work of staff who are working at the Department of ENR or the Department of Infrastructure, who are subject to this audit. The committee's intention is to provide constructive feedback on the response to the Auditor General's report and the findings of the Auditor General's report, and to present the evidence that we heard in our hearings. That is the contents of this document. I know that the committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is another area that committee found that the department had agreed with the Auditor General's finding, that there were significant issues with the management of wildlife species identified "at-risk" and that there was a piecemeal approach where certain species were prioritized over others. There are statutory obligations for protection of all species of risk, and, although the department agreed with the Auditor General's finding, their response was largely to maintain the status quo as to how they had been managing these resources. Although committee appreciates...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the following document, "2017 Westminster Workshop for Public Accounts and CAPAC Conference." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, over the course of our review of the Auditor General's findings, the Auditor General was quite clear that authorities were not in place to allow ENR to fulfill its leadership role in the previous greenhouse gas strategy, and some of the items that are contained in this motion are the kinds of instruments that were suggested to us as examples by the Auditor General's Office as the kind of authoritative instruments that ENR could employ to strengthen its leadership role.

Over the course of our hearings, this point was somewhat lost. We wanted to ensure that the...