Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. In September 2017, the NWT Housing Corporation released a three-year action plan with the title "Towards Level Ground: Addressing Persistent Core Need in the Northwest Territories." This plan responded to a 2016 motion supported by Regular Members that called for a comprehensive and fully costed plan to reduce housing problems identified in the 2014 community survey. Please provide a report on the first two years of the action plan, including how many households the Housing Corporation assisted and:
A breakdown of the type of assistance by action and/or initiative, as detailed on page 11 of the action plan;
A breakdown of money spent on each of these actions and/or initiatives by fiscal year;
A projection of assistance by action or initiative, as detailed on page 11 of the action plan, along with a breakdown of money spent on each one for the current fiscal year; and
A projection of how federal money under the National Housing Strategy will assist in meeting these measures in the current fiscal year.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents. Pursuant to section 32(2) of the Financial Administration Act, a document entitled "Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation 2018-19 Annual Report"; pursuant to section 106(3) of the Workers Compensation Act, documents entitled "Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Annual Report 2018 – Northwest Territories and Nunavut" and "Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Northwest Territories and Nunavut 2020 Corporate Plan and 2018-2022 Strategic Plan"; and, pursuant to section 125(2) of the Workers Compensation Act, a document entitled "Northwest Territories and Nunavut Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal 2018 Annual Report." Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Members, I wish to table the "Territorial General Election 2019 Official Results Report." The official results are published in accordance with section 265(1) and (2) of the Elections and Plebiscites Act.
Members, please join me in welcoming Ms. Nicole Latour, Chief Electoral Officer for the Northwest Territories, who is present in the gallery this afternoon.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the second time.
This bill amends the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act to extend certain benefits to Members and have the ability to regulate childcare expenses.
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 1 has had its second reading. The Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 73-2 and to have Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 73-2, and have Bill 1 referred to Committee of the Whole. Are there any nays? There are no nays. The bill is moved into Committee of the Whole for later today, Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters.
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Norn.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to deal with, one, Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, and, two, Tabled Document 5-19(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 3, 2019-2020, in that order. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the first item.
--- SHORT RECESS
I will now call committee back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. I will ask the Member responsible for the bill to introduce it. The Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act lays out the indemnities and allowances available to Members of the Legislative Assembly. Schedule C of the act sets out the actually monetary value of these indemnities and allowances.
During the 18th Legislative Assembly, the Independent Commission to Review Members' Compensation and Benefits and the Special Committee to Increase Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly put forward recommendations. As a result of these recommendations, amendments to the act and the regulations are required through Bill 1.
These include the following:
1. Prorate certain allowances for Members of an outgoing Legislative Assembly to the day before polling day, as opposed to the day the Legislative Assembly is dissolved;
2. Allow for Members to receive the same level of benefits;
3. Eliminate the requirement for Members of the Executive Council to swear or affirm an oath of allegiance a second time;
4. Include a new section to allow for the reimbursement of childcare expenses and authorize the making of regulations that deal with the reimbursement of these expenses;
5. The chairpersons of all standing committees of the Legislative Assembly receive the same remuneration, with the exception of the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight; and
6. Reference to the new UNW Collective Agreement and add language to eliminate the need for constantly updating the language every time a new agreement is reached.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes my remarks. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with the consideration of this bill.
Thank you. Would the Member for Kam Lake like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Member Cleveland, please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is Tim Mercer, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, and to my left is Christina Brownlee, Legislative Assembly Counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 1. Is the committee agreed that there are no further general comments?
Agreed.
Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, agreed?
---Clauses 1 through 5 approved
Clause 6, agreed? Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are dealing with the indemnity payable to officeholders, and I see that there is a bit of a difference here. The rules and procedures committee was identified in the current act as receiving a lesser indemnity than the other committee chairs. My understanding is that is because, traditionally, there were only about 12 or 13 meetings an Assembly for the rules committee. I understand that, in the last Assembly, that number has increased. Do we expect these numbers to increase, the workload to increase, to be similar to the other committees? Is that why this increase is happening? Thank you.
Ms. Cleveland.
Yes, that's correct, Madam Chair.
Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. I look forward to seeing if that happens, but it's a little strange, I guess, that, after one Assembly, we give this increase. Usually, you know, if we're budgeting, you might have to have a few years' overages before you work that into the base, so I look forward to seeing the work that this committee does in this Assembly. Thank you.
Member Cleveland. All right, so we're going back to clause 6. Agreed?
Agreed.
Clause 7. Agreed?
Agreed.
We will now return to the bill number and title. Member's Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. Agreed?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill of the whole, does committee agree that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, is now ready for third reading?
