Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madam la Presidente. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 97419(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20232024, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 97419(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Tabled Document 97419(2), we'll report it as ready for consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill.
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Thank you, Minister.
Committee, we've agreed to consider Committee Report 5219(2), Committee Report on the Review of the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. I will go to the chair of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures for any opening comments. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Committee's report was read into the record on May 30th, 2023. In 2022, the Speaker, Frederick Blake, twice wrote to the committee regarding the rules and asked the committee to consider various matters including: Regular Member participation on Standing and Special Committees; Membership on Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight; dissenting opinions in committee reports; care of infants in the Chamber; the Rule of Anticipation; loss of quorum; petitions; committee reporting on the review of bills; and the best approach to make statutory officers' annual reports available to the public and standing committees earlier.
Based on these questions, Madam Chair, the committee has made ten recommendations to address the various matters identified in the review of the rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Individual Members may have some comments. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Members, would you prefer to go into each motion or yes? Okay. Do you agree we can move straight to the motions? Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We're going to this my rules committee was so good at doing what we did, we're just going to pass them all. Thank you.
No, you've got to go through the motions.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the committee recommends that the following be added after Rule 4.5: 4.6 A statutory officers' annual report received by the Speaker shall be communicated to Members and made publicly available within seven calendar days when the House is not sitting. The Speaker will table the report in the House at the earliest opportunity.
to the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
Carried
Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the following be added after Rule 9.2(5): 9.2(5.1) each Regular Member shall sit on a minimum of two committees, in addition to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. This includes standing committees and the board of management. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm I have some questions about this. So this is stating that each Regular Member shall sit on a minimum of two committees in addition to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. So it says every Regular Member shall sit on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. And so if a Member is not sitting on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, they're in violation of the rules I suppose. So I wonder what would be the redress if they were in violation of those rules? I know we don't have witnesses here but this is just something I wanted to bring to people's attention given some of the future recommendations. So I'll just leave it at that. Thanks.
Thank you, Member. This is debate on the motion but there's not questions. We don't have witnesses. So Member for Hay River North.
Yeah, no, I mentioned we don't have witnesses. I just wanted to bring this to the House's attention. I'm not asking any questions as there's no one to ask. Thank you.
To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, thanks. Well, I'm not going to try to answer my colleague's question directly. But I guess the expectation coming into an Assembly is that Regular Members, Members who are not on the Cabinet side, would sit on two committees. This wasn't a requirement. And then this Assembly, that didn't happen, which increased the workload for the remaining Members. So this is, I think, in response to just try to lay not just lay out that as an expectation in the future. This is more of a requirement, dare we say, that if you're going to get elected here, you serve as a Regular Member, you're automatically on the AOC but you have to sit on two other standing committees so that we have a more tried to do a fair distribution of the workload. I think it's a good rule, and I'll be voting in favour of it. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Madam Chair, I was going to make a similar point to the Member for Frame Lake that when this occurred in this Assembly, it made for an unequal distribution of work which is not considerate of the other Members. And so it's a shame that we have to set it out explicitly, but I think it's a good idea. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
Carried
Member for Nunakput.
Madam Chair, I move that the committee recommends that the following be added after Rule 9.3(9):
(9.1) if the Member of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight acts in a manner that warrants discipline, which includes but is not limited to:
(a) violating any provision of the Legislative Assembly and executive council Act and its regulations that deal with conduct and responsibilities of committee members.
(b) disclosing confidential committee information without committee approval;.
(c) attending a meeting under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, or other mindaltering substance; and
(d) being repeatedly absent from meetings without a valid excuse.
The committee may, by majority vote, suspend the Member from the committee for a period of up to three meetings in duration.
(9.2) if the Member has been suspended from the committee for a period of time, the chair of the committee will report the suspension to the House under reports of standing and special committees.
(9.3) the committee may, at any time, recommend to the House that a Member be removed from or reappointed to the committee.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So we just approved a rule saying every Member shall sit on Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. Now this speaks to Members being removed from the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, which would mean the removal of the Member would then put them in violation of the previous rule? I'm just a little confused about this. And, again, there's no one to ask these questions to I'm not quite sure what to do with this. But I guess that's a situation that will arise or we'll deal with it when it happens. Thanks.
To the motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Yeah, thank you. I have the same thought as well. There have been issues in each of the Assemblies that I've that I've been a Member of with attendance, and it seems counterintuitive to suspend someone who's not coming anyway. But at the same time, it draws attention to the problem that some Members are not doing their jobs. And I think it's important for the public to know about that. But having said that, I take the point of the Member for Hay River North that we're sort of looking at both sides of the coin here. Thank you.
To the motion. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regards to the question, it's only the House could remove a Member. So it's not removing Members. It's just reappointment. The committee may want him off the committee. He'll get reappointed to another committee, and they do a tradeoff. So that's, like I said, only the House could remove Members. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
No, thanks. The chair of the committee is right. Only the House can remove a Member. But that's not what this motion or this rule does. This rule just gives the Members of AOC an ability to discipline Members if necessary. And it's quite an elaborate process that has to be gone through. So it's providing tools to AOC to administer discipline if necessary. That's all this is. Thanks, Madam Chair.
To the motion. Member for Nahendeh.
Yeah, thank you. And I'd just like to add to that there. It also gives AOC some tools. Right now, Cabinet, the tools, the Premier has. The Premier can make those decisions. But AOC would have to bring it to this House to do something. So this gives the tools to AOC to deal with their situation. It doesn't have to come to the House. So that's why I am supportive of this. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
Carried
Member for Nunakput.
Madam Chair, I move the committee recommends that the following be added after Rule 9.4(1):
(1.1) one or more member(s) of a committee may indicate that they dissent of a particular recommendation or comment.
(1.2) a Member or Members who wish to express the reasons for their dissent may do so in an appendix to the report.
(1.3) the chair of a committee will establish a reasonable deadline for any dissenting opinion to be shared with committee members before the report is presented to the House.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. 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
Member for Nunakput.
