Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the fourth recommendation. Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to limit and regulate third-party election advertising related to candidates and/or policy. 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 recommendation five from the report. Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to allow for the option of electronic voting for absentee ballots to provide an elector who has requested an absentee ballot to cancel his or her application in favour of an ordinary ballot on polling day, and to extend the period for voting in the office of the returning officer. 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. I don't want to speak on this at length, but I personally had heard a number of complaints about our students in particular not getting absentee ballots while they were down south studying. Certainly, it happened for my son. The Chief Electoral Officer did identify this as a problem and an issue, and she brought this forward as a recommendation, so I am more than happy to increase opportunities for our students to participate in our elections. 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. We are on to recommendation number six. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to replace the requirement for candidates to file statements from a bank or other financial institution with a practical, reliable requirement that ensures accountability and transparency; and further that the act be amended to provide the Chief Electoral Officer with discretion to extend elected candidates' deadline for filing accurate and complete financial statements for up to 15 calendar days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. This is a recommendation where the committee actually, we had a very different recommendation from the Chief Electoral Officer, and I believe it was in her supplementary report to the general election where she had actually recommended that chartered accountants be signing off on the financial reports. Although we understand the intent behind her recommendation, the fact is that there are so few chartered accountants and that they are only in the larger communities that we believe that would have formed a barrier and a significant barrier for potential candidates, so we have gone with this alternate recommendation that I think will encourage more people to run in elections. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the effort that the committee has put into making this motion. I do have a little bit of difficulty with it. My only difficulty is that I recognize that the filing of reports and access to banks is an issue that I will not take -- it is a huge issue. My only concern is that it has really left it kind of vague because it just says "replace it with a practical, reliable requirement that ensures accountability and transparency." I personally would have preferred if there was something more concrete within this than just leaving it to whatever the interpretation of "practical" and "reliable" means to anyone. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Would the chair like to respond? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I accept the remarks from my colleague, and I think, you know, these motions basically serve as drafting instructions, and it will be up to the board of management to work with a law clerk, legal counsel to basically come up with wording that meets the spirit and intent of these. Look, I am not a lawyer, but it might be a statutory declaration or a place for a candidate and the official agent to sign off on the statements and have them notarized or, you know. Look, I am not a lawyer, but I think the intention is clear here. We do not want there to be unnecessary barriers in the way of encouraging people to run for elected office, but we also have to balance that with the need for accountability and transparency by having accurate financial statements. So I think that is the balance we are trying to achieve here, and we look forward to the work of our friends on the board of management in coming up with the appropriate language to implement the intent here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Anything further? Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I appreciate the efforts. I do understand the intent of it, and I agree with the intent of it. I will abstain from this motion just because I do wish that there was something more concrete as a solution, so it is not that I oppose it. It is that I just find that it is not concrete enough for me. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. 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.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I also want to assure my colleague that she is going to have another chance at this when the bill comes forward. On to recommendation number 7, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Chief Electoral Officer consult with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, and a broad range of community government representatives with respect to consolidation of responsibilities for the administration of general and local elections; and further that the results of this research when complete be included in the Chief Electoral Officer's subsequent report to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor and in order. To the motion. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that this is something that the Chief Electoral Officer recommended. I think the committee has taken an important step in recommending that we do some work before making those kind of changes. In other jurisdictions they vary, but often the central election body or the provincial election body does send teams in to support municipal level elections, and that can be very helpful when you may have a situation where the chief administrative officer of a municipality is also the returning officer and, if there is a dispute over the results, they have to basically act as the decider for their new employer, who would be the mayor or whatever have you. So that conflict of interest can be difficult, so having a third party assist with administration of elections I think could help preserve the integrity of the electoral process.
You know, there have been over the years several complaints around the conduct of municipal elections, and it puts the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs in a difficult position if they are being requested to suspend the results of an election. I think if we had a second set of eyes on the issue, we might be able to avoid those circumstances, so I look forward, and I hope this is supported and this is moved and we are able to see this work done and ultimately determine if it is the best choice for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just would like to speak to this briefly. The committee was also cognizant that we did receive correspondence from the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and the NWT Association of Communities expressing some concerns about the recommendation that came from the Chief Electoral Officer on this subject. To us, that just flagged that this needs some more work and a discussion amongst these different organizations. I think there are probably some good opportunities for collaboration and coordination amongst them, whether having the Chief Electoral Officer run municipal elections, I'm not sure that that's one option, but there may be other ways to do this. What we wanted to do was to open the door here for further discussion to take place and that's, I think, what this motion will do. Thanks, 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 the eighth recommendation. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended in accord with Recommendations 2, 10, 13, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, and 38 in the Chief Electoral Officer Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Election. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor and the motion is in order. I will let committee know that the recommendations referred to in this motion can be found on page 21 of the report that we're looking at. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is recommendation 9 from the report. I move that this Assembly recommends that Section 257.1(1) of the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to increase the penalty for non-compliance to $500, plus a daily fine of $50 to a maximum of $1,000. And further, that the act be amended to establish that the term of office for returning officers expires with resignation, change of permanent residency to outside the Northwest Territories, revocation, or death. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There's a motion on the floor and in order. 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 10 from our report. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended as needed to provide:
that the Chief Electoral Officer is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly;
that the Chief Electoral Officer shall take an oath affirming that she or he will impartially and faithfully exercise the powers of the Chief electoral Officer and perform all duties fairly, objectively, and with due care;
that no proceeding may be commenced against the Chief Electoral Officer or a person acting for or under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer for anything done or omitted in good faith in the exercise, intended exercise, or performance of a duty, responsibility, or power under the act;
that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer for Elections NWT is established to ensure impartial administration and conduct of elections and plebiscites;
that the Chief Electoral Officer administers and manages the business of Elections NWT;
that the Chief Electoral Officer shall examine all statements, reports, forms and other information filed with the Chief Electoral Officer;
that the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish reports filed pursuant to this act on Elections NWT's website or in such manner determined to be effective by the Chief Electoral Officer;
that the Chief Electoral Officer shall formulate policies regarding the conduct of elections;
that the Chief Electoral Officer may prescribe forms for use under this act;
that the Chief Electoral Officer may engage the services of professionals or experts such as counsel or accountants as necessary to carry out the Chief Electoral Officer's duties under this act within the appropriation for Elections NWT; and
that the Chief Electoral Officer shall submit annual estimates of the funds required to operate Elections NWT to the board of management via the Speaker.
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.
Just very briefly. The purpose of this motion is in response to the White Paper that the Chief Electoral Officer submitted, and that was sort of looking at election administration in the NWT in a broader sense comparing us with some other jurisdictions. The committee is not recommending acceptance of all of the recommendations of that report, but this motion is an effort to help clarify some of the roles and duties of the Chief Electoral Officer in terms of modernizing our approach to elections and his or her role into the future. I think this will provide the kind of authority that the office needs to move forward in a more efficient and effective manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.
Question.
