Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is Recommendation 11 of the report. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to require the Chief Electoral Officer to submit an annual report to the Legislative Assembly describing work done under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer pursuant to the act;
require the Chief Electoral Officer to submit a report to the Legislative Assembly after each election or plebiscite about the conduct of the election or plebiscite;
provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the option of combining his or her reports into one in the year of an election or plebiscite;
provide that the Chief Electoral Officer may report to the Legislative Assembly at any other time on any matter that the Chief Electoral Officer considers necessary; and
provide that any of the Chief Electoral Officer's reports to the Legislative Assembly may include recommendations for legislative amendments to improve the administration of elections under this or any other related act.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just very briefly. Right now the Chief Electoral Officer is required to file a report following the conduct of an election. The office does have the ability to file other reports as necessary, but this would require the filing of an annual report and I think this would just increase accountability and also give the officer the ability to tell us what they're doing in any given year. I think it's a helpful addition and something that the CEO herself has recommended and I think it's a good tool to increase accountability. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you committee. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is recommendation 12. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to:
require the Chief Electoral Officer to notify the complainant in writing with reasons, if the Chief Electoral Officer decides not to conduct an investigation of a complaint;
make it an offence to obstruct the Chief Electoral Officer or his or her designate in carrying out an inspection or investigation under this act, or to withhold, conceal or destroy any records, documents or things relevant to the investigation;
provide that when the Chief Electoral Officer believes it is in the public interest the outcome of the investigations may be published on Elections NWT's website or by other means the Chief Electoral Officer considers appropriate, and information provided may include the name of the person investigated and the nature of the matter;
provide the complaints respecting omissions or offences under the act may be made within six months of the alleged omission or offence; and
provide that the deadline for the Chief Electoral Officer to commence a prosecution under the act is one year from the date of the alleged offence.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There's a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
I don't want to prolong this, but this is about clarifying the Chief Electoral Officer's ability to carry out investigations and enforcement and I think these largely stem from recommendations that she made, and I think they're very helpful in improving the transparency of the complaint process and providing some firm deadlines and certainty around complaints and. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I understand the intent of this and I agree with the intent. Again, I am going to abstain on this one because I do have some issues with the sentence: "The outcome of investigations may be published on Election NWT's website or by other means the Chief Electoral Officer considers appropriate."
In my understanding as people are innocent until proven guilty, this doesn't state that, if the findings are proven true that they would be, this says that the Chief Electoral Officer has the ability to define, on her own, outside a court of law whether it is appropriate or not. I do have issues with people not going through due process to do that. I will be abstaining again on this one. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. To the motion. I will allow the mover of the motion to close debate. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I understand the concern from my honourable colleague. I want to provide some assurance. I am sorry, I don't have the Elections Act in front of me, but other wording in the motion here does provide the Chief Electoral Officers with some discretion in terms of releasing information about investigations. He or she has to determine what is in the public interest. They also have the ability to not investigate a complaint if they believe it is frivolous or vexatious. Those are the typical words. I think they are in the act, but as I say, I don't have it in front of me. I think there is enough discretion in the authority that the Chief Electoral Officer has to prevent disclosures that are not in the public interest and so on. I understand the concern, but I think the authority is there to appropriately deal with these sorts of situations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is recommendation 13. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to enable the Chief Electoral Officer to develop and make materials available to schools for distribution to students who have reached voting age or will soon do so, including information on the NWT's electoral process, the right to vote, how to have one's name added to the register of electors, and any other matter that the Chief Electoral Officer considers useful to electors and prospective electors. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just very quickly, the Chief Electoral Officer requested the mandate of the office be clarified to give her specific mandate to go and talk to kids and youth in our schools because right now it is a rather vague and I am sorry, I don't have the wording in front of me, but I think this is the kind of authority that the office should have to encourage our youth to get engaged and involved in future elections and our democratic process. This is a good thing. I want to thank her for this recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is recommendation 14. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to enable the Chief Electoral Officer at a by-election to direct use of voting equipment, vote counting equipment, or alternative voting methods that differ from those required elsewhere in the act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the last recommendation. I am sure everyone will be relieved to know that.
I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to authorize the Chief Electoral Officer to enter agreements with any person or government, department, or institution to obtain information, including personal information, to update the register of electors and permit the Chief Electoral Officer to enter agreements with any person or government, department, or institution to provide address, mapping, demographic, or geographic information including geospatial information and ensure appropriate protection of the privacy of personal information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I respect the intent of this and I just wish it would have gone a bit further. I found that the voter's list was really inappropriate during the campaign period and I kind of wish that this motion was made stronger and actually had a timeline that said that, when the voter's list had to be updated, how many years, et cetera, because that is an issue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. The chair of the committee indicates that he wishes to respond. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't always want to get the last word in, but I think and I understand the concern from my honourable colleague. There was, I think, a motion or two earlier here that does deal with the issue of the voter's list and preserving the ability for the public to scrutinize it and make corrections to it.
The intent of this motion is to ensure that the Chief Electoral Officer has the ability to make agreements with other agencies to make sure that we have a better voter's list in the first place. That is what the intention of this motion is, so I think it meets your concern by improving the information and the ability to put together a better list. That is what this motion is about, but I appreciate the concern from my colleague. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was going to let him have the last word, but I appreciate it. Again, I do support it. I do wish that it would have had some kind of timeline that said every four years or something that the voter's list would be updated just because it is so obsolete and just unmanageable, in my opinion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. Thank you, committee. Committee, do you agree that we have concluded consideration of committee report 1-18(3)?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We have now concluded consideration of Committee Report 1-18(3), Report on the Review of the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Elections, Supplementary Recommendations and the White Paper on the Independence and Accountability of Election Administration in the Northwest Territories. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and is non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. I will rise and report progress.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 2-18(3), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2017-2018; Tabled Document 3-18(3), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2018-2019; Committee Report 1-18(3), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Elections, Supplementary Recommendations and the White Paper on the Independence and Accountability of Election Administration in the Northwest Territories.
I would like to report progress with 17 motions adopted and that review of Committee Report 1-18(3) has been concluded and that consideration of Tabled Document 2-18(3) and Tabled Document 3-18(3) is concluded and the House concurs on those estimates, and that an appropriation bill to be based thereon be introduced without delay. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.
Masi. Do I have a seconder? The Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
