Thanks, Mr. Chairman. As we are discussing the motion here, it never occurred to me before now, and I think this motion needs a couple of words, which are “where practicable.” I think in some cases that accredited financial institutions becomes challenging if you are in a small community.
We did talk about the challenges a community candidate would have. If they are in a small community and they are given cash as a donation, they write a receipt, obviously, and then they need money for gas to go somewhere. The money didn’t flow directly through the bank and get on the statement through that process directly, so when you do a balancing out of the receipts versus the statement, it may not necessarily match and not because of any fault of anyone.
I recognize what we want to do. I fully support the principle of the transparency of that and ensure that everything lines up and is clear and people are doing these things all aboveboard, but frankly, I worry about the practical application, as well, at the same time. The example I gave in committee is if whoever is running in Nahendeh and they just happened to be in Fort Liard and somebody comes up to them and says, here is $500 for your campaign, they are able to issue them a receipt but they need gas money to drive back. Maybe they’re driving back to Fort Simpson or wherever. They need gas. They pay for it. The challenge is the practical application of it. I certainly fully support the intent and it fully makes sense. It is just the operation of it and how do we adjust or balance off this?
The question is: Do I suggest we move an amendment to it? I think that is probably where I should do it right now. I haven’t prepared for it because I just thought of it. So I would like to move an amendment to it.
The Member is proposing an amendment to this motion. We will have to prepare that.
Before we have to break here to prepare this amendment, can the Member clearly articulate exactly what this amendment is? Thank you. Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Chair, I would add the following at the end of the last word and it states, “where and when practicable.”
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Committee, we will just have to break for a second to prepare an amendment to this motion. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you, committee. I will turn it over to Mr. Hawkins to read in the motion. Mr. Hawkins.
I move that Committee Motion 86-17(5) be amended by adding the words “where and when practicable” following the words “in their financial reports to Elections NWT.”
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Committee, the amended motion is in order. To the amended motion. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am fully in support of the context of providing statements from financial institutions. That’s not the issue here. The issue here is they don’t necessarily guarantee that they line up. First and foremost, if you are running from a small community that does not have a financial institution and there’s no guarantee that there will be an available one every time, every election, you are then forced with options. It’s easy to say there will be one in every Northern… Well, not every community has a Northern. So the issue is if someone makes a donation to a particular campaign, your receipt books guarantees that. It matches; it shows money coming in. Your expenses that you fill out in your expense report show money going out. So, whether that’s going out by cheque or by cash through your elections folks, that lines up. So there’s an actual balance there, Mr. Chairman.
The problem is – and we didn’t really get an answer during the committee process when we had the elections officer there – what do we do when there’s a discrepancy between at the accredited financial institution and the expense book? There’s the issue and we didn’t really get an answer. Some will say it’s a reference. That’s fine, it’s a reference, but a reference is a reference. You’ve got your receipts, you’ve got your receipt book from donations, you’ve got your receipts from expenses and they should be lining up. If they don’t line up, that’s where you should be having problems. If you’ve got an accredited financial institution that issues a bank statement, this definitely means that you have to make sure everything flows there, because if there is some gap that you chose… For example, you got a donation and you spent it on gas to go somewhere or you bought some food for some people who were hungry at the moment, including yourself, what do you do? There’s a gap there.
Some people will say it’s easy to get one. That’s fine, maybe it is in most cases, but the problem is what you do when they don’t line up, and we never got an answer to that. That’s a real-life situation. It probably won’t line up in all the cases. So then what type of scrutiny have you put those candidates under when they don’t line up? In other words, your cash lines up from your donation. Your expenses make sense because they all are laid out, but if your financial institution, if you’re able to get one, doesn’t match those two. I’m just trying to keep people from being caught up in some type of situation here. We are trying to make things easier, not more challenging.
Maybe I am the only one who is seeing it this way and everyone thinks it will be fine. The moment it won’t be fine to one person, that one person is going to be sweating terribly, trying to figure out how to deal with the situation. It’s the administrator who will be making the rules on how they comply.
I’m just worried about the small guy. It doesn’t affect anyone in Yellowknife or Hay River or Inuvik or even Fort Simpson or Fort Smith where you have normal banking institutions. If you are a candidate anywhere else, then maybe it will be a bit of a challenge. It may not be a challenge in every small community, but we have to keep that in mind. I thought we were thinking of small communities as well as large communities here. I’m just worried about those candidates who potentially could run from a small community who could be challenged, that’s all.
If it fails, at the end of the day it doesn’t affect me. I am just worrying about somebody it may affect. That’s all that matters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the amendment. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I realize the Member is on the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures and was present during the rather extensive discussion we had on this, which we’re hearing again today. The CEO assured committee members that every community does have an accredited financial institution that would qualify. This includes co-operatives and Northern Stores. It’s recognized that not every transaction will be on the record of a financial institution. I suspect that’s true for all of us here today, but every receipt of dollars and every expenditure must certainly be accounted for and documented in one form or other, as Mr. Hawkins said.
This motion provides one of the tools that have been deemed by the Chief Electoral Officer to be the most useful, and committee explicitly recognized that while it may be most valuable in communities or in campaigns where dollar amounts are large and transactions are a bit more complex, it will also be a useful record in all communities, especially for the relatively large transactions that are made in each campaign. Again, it was considered a useful tool and a financial oversight quiver and its limitations were fully recognized and discussed. Committee agreed on the wording here and specifically concluded that exceptions were not required.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the amendment. Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Chairman, I think issues like this much better belong in regulations as opposed to into law, and to me this is where it belongs, in regulations. I mean, that’s why the finessing of it can be much more appropriate.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the amendment.
Question.
Question has been called. The amendment is defeated.
---Defeated
Committee, we are going to go back to the original motion of 86-17(5). To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Chief Electoral Officer provide additional research on the regulation of third-party election advertising for future consideration.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to strengthen the enforcement powers of the Chief Electoral Officer, by conferring the specific power to summon persons to appear, produce documents and give evidence under oath.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Does committee agree that we have considered the Report on the Review of Auxiliary Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the Issues Arising from the 2011 General Election strengthening enforcement powers of the Chief Electoral Officer as being considered and concluded?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Next on our list we have Committee Report 9, Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2012-2013 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, information and privacy legislation for municipalities and we’ll go to the opening comments to the chair of that committee, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today the Standing Committee on Government Operations presented its report on the Review of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2012-2013 Annual Report.
The committee thanks Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts for her report and for her appearance before the committee on April 25, 2014.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner has been encouraging the GNWT to find ways to include municipalities under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act or under their own legislation since her annual report of 2007-2008. The Commissioner has again repeated this recommendation in her 2012-2103 Annual Report.
The GNWT has responded to this recommendation in the past, acknowledging the importance of this work and has provided a timeline for its completion. Accordingly, the standing committee is recommending:
that the Government of the Northwest Territories make every effort to complete the work necessary to bring municipalities under Access to Information and Protection of Privacy legislation; and
that the government table its review report and discussion paper in the 2014 fall sitting, identify next steps and resources necessary to complete this legislative initiative within the life of the 17th Assembly.
In the same vein, the Information and Privacy Commissioner has advised the GNWT that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act is woefully out of date. The Commissioner has recommended to the GNWT that this legislation needs to be updated and has included this recommendation in her annual report every year for the last five years, including again this year.
The ATIPP Act is now 18 years old. We have allowed it to become antiquated, even as we recognize that most important pieces of legislation should be reviewed after five- or 10-year intervals.
The standing committee is concerned that the GNWT’s legislation governing the use and disclosure of information has been allowed to become so outdated in this information age when we are increasingly recognizing the importance of information as a valuable resource that needs to be handled with care.
The committee believes that this situation cannot be allowed to persist and, therefore, recommends that:
the government provide an updated and detailed progress report to this Assembly on work done towards a comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and
that updates to the act be introduced during the life of the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Other Members may have additional comments.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. We’ll open up the floor to general comments. We’ll go to detail then, committee. I’ll turn it over to Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories complete the work necessary to bring municipalities under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy legislation; and further, that the government table its review report and discussion paper in the 2014 fall sitting, identifying next steps and resources necessary to complete this legislative initiative within the life of the 17th Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide an updated detailed progress report to this Assembly on work done towards a comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and further, that updates to the act be introduced during the life of the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Committee, do we agree we have concluded Committee Report 9-17(5)?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. What is the wish of committee? Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.
