Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I know that the bulk of the workload happens during an election year. We also made some changes to the Elections Act in the last Assembly to better define the role of the Chief Electoral Officer and give them a bit more of a mandate in terms of public education and promotion and so on. I’m just a bit surprised to see that we’re not budgeting for anybody in the office as of, starting, April 1st. What is the $439,000 for? Are we going to have some kind of contract to have somebody to serve in that capacity? I'm just trying to understand what’s happening here, Madam Chair. It’s just coming as a bit of a surprise. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, great question. Actually, we will still have on staff our Chief Electoral Officer, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, and also a part-time position. Leading up to the next election, we’ll see all these positions put out again and fully staffed. With the positions that we will have on staff, that will conclude the post-election work that is required, so we’ll have, actually, three staff on, well, two and a half, actually.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I don’t want to prolong this, but as chair of rules and procedures, I know that the report from the last election is due very soon. It has to come before rules and procedures, and that’s usually presented by the Chief Electoral Officer. We have a public hearing, we seek input, and so on. If that position is not staffed, I just want to make sure that we’re going to be able to continue to do that work. I understand that there will be a contract put in place. Should we be expecting, then, a supplemental appropriation partway through the year, to properly staff up this office, given that the contracts are ending, and so on? Is that what we should expect to see moving forward? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. No, there will be no further funding requested. The Chief Electoral Officer position will still be staffed. It’s just the extra staff that was needed during the election period, so we’ll have the Electoral Officer, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer position, and a part-time position, as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I’m just trying to reconcile the figure for 2018-2019. The actual is $754,000, and then, for 2020-2021, it’s $439,000. Were there some pre-election expenditures then, back in 2018-2019, that we start to see a ramping up? Maybe I’m just trying to understand that, the cycle here, and it’s off-sheet. Is that what happened? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Mr. Speaker.
Yes, because this was leading up to the previous election, there was a lot of training, as well, that the Chief Electoral Officer put forward, especially in the communities, with the returning officers. That had a lot to do with it, plus bringing on staff, as I mentioned. That took a lot of it. The changes that were being proposed, the Chief Electoral Officer, are consistent with what she requested. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess why I’m asking these questions, as I said earlier, I’m using my lens as the chair of rules and procedures. I just want to make sure that, this function, that we’re giving the right amount of resources to carry out this function. I guess I’m just going to have to watch this moving forward. Thanks, Madam Chair. That’s all.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Mr. Speaker.
I’ll take it as a comment. As I mentioned, it’s fully consistent with what the Chief Electoral Officer has requested. As I mentioned in my opening statement, we’re always trying to work closely with the independent commissioners and continue that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are there any further questions to Office of the Chief Electoral Officer? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Over the years, I think, there has been some discussion with kind of expanding the role of the Chief Electoral Officer to also include municipal elections. I know there are a number of different ways that local authorities run their own elections. I think what we kind of see is that the Chief Electoral Officer gets really busy when there’s an election, obviously, and when there is an Electoral Boundaries Commission. Then we see these fluctuations in the budget. I guess my question to the Speaker is: is there any desire or current conversations happening about expanding local authorities’ elections under the parameters of the Chief Electoral Officer?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. That’s something that was recommended, and I believe MACA is working on that at the moment. Maybe we’ll get a briefing note on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you. I look forward to however this works, the Speaker working with the Chief Electoral Officer and MACA to provide the appropriate standing committee an update on how that is working. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. I’ll take that as a comment. Was that a comment? I didn’t hear a question in there. Are there any further questions to Office of the Chief Electoral Officer? If there are no further questions, turn to page 11, Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 main estimates, $439,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the office of the clerk, beginning on page 13. Questions? If there are no further questions, please turn to page 14. Legislative Assembly, office of the clerk, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $8,650,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Office of the speaker, and that is on page 17 to 19. Questions? Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 18. Legislative Assembly, office of the speaker, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $507,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Statutory offices, beginning on page 20 to 24. Questions? Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. I note that the Human Rights Adjudication Panel amount has gone up over last year and the year before. Can the Speaker say why that is? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Speaker.
Due to increased workload, we've increased the Human Rights Adjudication Panel from a part-time position to a full-time position.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. My next question has to do with the Information and Privacy Commissioner. I note, in the Speaker's opening remarks, he talked about a greater workload. Is this funding for just one position, or what exactly in terms of staffing does it cover? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. It's adding one position to a full-time position, and also an investigator which the Information and Privacy Commissioner felt that they needed in order, instead of things going to litigation, to try to resolve them, I do believe. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. My final question has to do with the languages commissioner. It's my understanding that this position has been vacant for some time, so can the Speaker tell us what the spending in this fiscal year is for? Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. The position isn't vacant at the moment. We still have a languages commissioner. The increases were due to the plans that were in place because we did put it out to competition, and someone was selected, and we budgeted to have the office moved to Deline. Since everything was planned here and also moving that position to a full-time, because the person declined on the position, the board decided to re-advertise. Because we made those changes to make it a full-time position and have the option to relocate to a different community throughout the Northwest Territories, the board felt it was only fair to put it out, the competition, once again. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are there any further questions? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have one quick question regarding the Ombud. Just looking at page 23, it says there are two full-time positions in the South Slave. I am just reading through. Earlier, my understanding, there were three positions in the Ombud office. Could that have been a typo, or did I miss something? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Including the Ombud, there are three positions. We have the Ombud plus two staff. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. No? No further questions. Are there any further questions on statutory offices? Seeing no further questions, please turn to 21. Legislative Assembly, statutory offices, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $3,594,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Now, we'll return to the departmental summary on page 5. Legislative Assembly, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $22,720,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that consideration of the Legislative Assembly is complete?
Agreed.
