Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 3, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2017-2018, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriation for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
The motion is carried. Bill 3 has had its second reading. Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 4, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2018-2019, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. Committee, before we begin with our committee business, I would like to continue our farewell tribute to our deputy clerk, Mr. Doug Schauerte. As we know, Doug is retiring after 31 years, and as the chair of Committee of the Whole, I would like to personally thank him for his guidance over the past two years. The first formal meeting I ever chaired was on the floor of this House, and so needless to say, I have relied heavily on him, and I greatly appreciate his support. Likewise, Doug had his hands full as the clerk for the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, of which eight of the 11 Members were newly elected this Assembly, and I can't imagine it was an easy experience to manage such an inexperienced group, and I apologize to the people of the territory if we have hastened Mr. Schauerte's decision to retire.
---Laughter
Over his career, Doug has proven his loyalty, discretion, and durability to each Assembly. Through it all, he has provided sage advice to Members and to other staff. Sometimes he calls this "running through the dance steps." These dances have been a constant since the time when sessions were held in a Yellowknife hotel and the occasional community gymnasium, and as our Assembly made history during the monumental dividing of the Northwest Territories to create the new territory of Nunavut.
Doug's departure signifies a truly irreplaceable loss of knowledge about the history and workings of the Legislative Assembly. It has been a pleasure and honour to work with you. Please join me in congratulating Doug on his retirement and in thanking him for his many and enduring contributions to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
---Applause
What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I congratulate you on your cagey use of procedure. Committee would like to consider Committee Report 2-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2015-2016 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and Committee Report 3-18(3), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Motion 32-18(2), Referral of Petition 6-18(2): Elimination of Time Change in the Northwest Territories to the Standing Committee on Social Development. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will begin our consideration immediately.
As I have said, we are beginning our consideration immediately. We have already taken a break earlier. First, we have agreed to consider Committee Report 2-18(3), Report on the Review of the 2015-2016 Public Accounts. I will turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, which wrote the report. Mr. Testart, do you have any opening comments?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On October 17, 2017, the Standing Committee on Government Operations presented its Report on the Review of the 2015-2016 Public Accounts, which included eight recommendations. Members of the committee may have additional comments. That concludes my opening comments, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. As is our usual process, we will move through each of the recommendations as motions. First, I will open the floor to any general comments. Any general comments from committee? Seeing none, Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the assembly recommends the tabled, titled "Completion of Entities Consolidated within the Public Accounts," be included annually in the unaudited financial statement discussion and analysis section of the public accounts. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is being distributed. 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, committee. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move this Assembly recommends that the Office of the Comptroller General and the Department of Finance work with all Government of the Northwest Territories public agencies to assist them to complete their audited financial statements to meet statutory reporting deadlines and to seek necessary extensions where those deadlines cannot be met. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. 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. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories continue to include information in the financial statement discussion and analysis section of the public accounts, indicating how the Government of the Northwest Territories has met the provisions related to debt servicing and infrastructure financing in the fiscal responsibility policy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. 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. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommends that the Minister of Finance work with the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency to develop plain-language materials that summarize the public accounts for a given year in a manner that is understandable for an interested nonprofessional reader focusing on the key financial highlights and significant audit issues arising for that year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am very pleased to see this recommendation. The public accounts come in a form that is not readily understandable to the interested public, and we have been, we the GNWT has been, warned that it is time for us to make the public accounts more understandable to people who are interested in learning what they are and what they represent about our government, and so I am very pleased to see that the committee has gone this additional step in creating a recommendation to address this, a solution to this long-standing problem. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Testart, to the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My colleague, the honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre, put this very well, that this is a long-standing issue that many governments face in making their financial reports and statements legible to the public. It is an example of how we can do something that seems insignificant in the grand scheme of something compared to an open-government policy or other transparency initiatives. Simply creating a readable document for the public about how we budget, how we account, it goes a long way to opening up understanding of our processes and our books. I know that, even for MLAs or candidates who are running for office, you know, having a good sense of how our money is spent and how it is collected and how that information is collected, that helps our democratic process, as well. So this really cuts across many different areas of transparency, and I think it is high time we started doing this and also producing citizen's budgets and documents like that. So it is not just the public accounts that are getting this treatment, but it is all of our fiscal process, including the operations budget and capital budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Department of Finance, after consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner for the Northwest Territories, reconsider amending the nonconsolidated schedule of bad debt write-offs, forgiveness, and student loan remissions to protect the privacy of individuals by removing the names of those who have received student loan remissions and reporting only the amounts of those remissions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, this is an issue that I have raised in the two public accounts reviews that I have participated in. There is a big difference between bad debt as listed in here and student loan remissions, and my reading of the Financial Administration Act, and I am not a lawyer, when I read it, there is no requirement for disclosure of individual names to be listed in this part of the public accounts, and I think it is an invasion of these individuals' privacy. We want to encourage our students to come back here and work here and live here, and one way we do this is through these student loan remissions. This kind of over-the-top disclosure I think is not required, is not needed, and is an invasion of these individuals' privacy, so I am very happy to see this in here. Look, this takes up pages and pages in the public accounts. There is no need for those names to be identified. A single aggregate amount is all that is really required, and I look forward to our government implementing this particular recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Sebert, to the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a government that is committed to openness and transparency, and, in my view, this goes exactly the opposite way. Why do these names have to be concealed from the public? These people are receiving benefits which they deserve -- which they deserve -- I have no problem with that, but this goes completely against the idea of openness and transparency. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Sebert. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Testart.
