Debates of March 15, 2018 (day 27)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Masi. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with the motion he gave earlier today. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Member, you may continue.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Committee Report 6-18(3), Report on the Review of the 2017 Report of the Auditor General on Climate Change in the Northwest Territories, be received by the Assembly;

AND FURTHER, notwithstanding Rule 49, that Committee Report 6-18(3): Report on the Review of the 2017 Report of the Auditor General on Climate Change in the Northwest Territories be moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Motion is in order.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried.

---Carried

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 12, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 2018-2019, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The motion is in order. The motion is non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 8, Emergency Management Act, be read for the second time. This bill repeals and replaces a former act and reflects a new emergency management structure consistent with current operational Territorial realities. 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? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 8 has had its second reading. It is now referred to a standing committee. Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 12, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 2018-2019, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for operation 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? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Committee Report 6-18(3), Report on the Review of the 2017 Report of the Auditor General on Climate Change in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?

Agreed.

Thank you, committee. Let's get down to it. I will turn to the chair of the standing committee who considered the report for any opening comments. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, yesterday, I reported the bill, and I won't go in at length. It was fairly lengthy yesterday. The key issue here is climate change's major impacts on the Arctic. Of course, that has huge consequences for our jurisdiction.

Northerners know that the recent years of forest fires and coastal erosion, permafrost erosion, these issues are live issues that affect them, affect their communities, affect their families. The expectation is that we have a robust framework and mechanism to deal with them. Unfortunately, in previous years, that was not the case. That is what the Auditor General of Canada found in her audit.

The standing committee worked very diligently to gather evidence on the Auditor General's reports and looked at those recommendations very closely and spoke with departmental officials and officials from the office of the Auditor General, as well. This is not an issue about the people who are working at that department. This is a management issue. These audits are always management issues.

The committee takes no issue with the hard-working staff at the department or the hard-working staff at the public service in general. This is really about the kind of tools that this government needs to lead on climate change. We want to ensure, as a standing committee, that those tools are, in fact, in place and that all parties involved with this audit and the subsequent standing committee review understand quite clearly their roles and responsibilities under the government's commitments to climate change.

We appreciate that much of this work has been identified as ongoing in the government's Climate Change Strategic Framework. However, when the committee reviewed those drafts, many of the key findings and recommendations the Auditor General made that were accepted by the department were not clearly included in the Climate Change Strategic Framework. The department has acknowledged that. I understand they are working to correct that in the final form of this framework.

We will be making a number of recommendations that we will debate later in these proceedings. Key, I think, is understanding the contents of these recommendations. It is very easy to agree with the findings, but taking meaningful action to ensure that these problems are addressed and do not re-emerge, that is the interest of the standing committee.

It is not about being critical or scoring points. It is about making government better and ensuring that we can tackle the immense challenges that climate change represents to Northerners, to our communities, and to the people we serve.

With that, Mr. Chair, I will conclude my opening comments, but I welcome any other Member of the committee who wants to provide some comments that I may have missed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Earlier the committee agreed to forgo opening comments. Does committee still agree that we shall forgo opening comments?

Agreed.

Thank you, committee. The way we deal with these reports is we move through each recommendation and treat it as a motion. We may begin that process now. I will just give committee a moment to orient itself. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this assembly recommend that Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Infrastructure take the steps necessary to ensure that all eight recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General in its report are fully implemented in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried.

Thank you, committee. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this assembly recommend that, in future, any Government of the Northwest Territories department being audited provide the Standing Committee on Government Operations with a copy of its action or implementation plan at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than three business days prior to the public review on the Auditor General's report, consistent with the process convention on communications between Cabinet Ministers, standing committees, and Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried.

Thank you, committee. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this assembly recommend that, in future, any GNWT department selected for an audit provide the Standing Committee on Government Operations with a copy of its action or implementation plan in draft format and, further, that the document not be finalized until the department has had an opportunity to consider the recommendations made as a result of the standing committee's review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources acknowledge and reference the Auditor General's report and recommendations in the Climate Change Strategic Framework. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion.