Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Tuesday, June 11th, 2024, I will present to the House Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, Minister's Statement 4-20(1), Minister's Statement 5-20(1), Minister's Statement 17-20(1), Minister's Statement 24-20(1), Tabled Document 93-20(1), Tabled Document 111-20(1).
Thank you. I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Committee of the Whole wishes to consider Tabled Document 93-20(1), 2024-2025 Main Estimates, the Legislative Assembly, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Thank you.
Thank you. Does the committee agree? Thank you. We'll take a short recess and resume with the first item.
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Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 93-20(1), Main Estimates 2024-2025. We will now consider the Legislative Assembly.
Does the Speaker wish to bring witnesses into the House?
I do.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.
Thank you. Would the Speaker introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Glen Rutland, clerk of the Legislative Assembly. And on my right is Kim Wickens, deputy clerk of the Legislative Assembly, deputy clerk members and precinct services.
Thank you. Does the committee agree to forego general comments on the Legislative Assembly?
Agreed.
So if we could proceed to the details contained in the tabled document. Committee, we will defer the Legislative Assembly summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning with expenditure on behalf of the Members starting on page 8. Are there any questions? Seeing none, no further questions, please turn to page 9.
The Legislative Assembly expenditure on behalf of Members, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $10,512,000. Does the committee agree? Show of hands.
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer beginning on page 10, with information items on page 12. Are there any questions? No further questions, please turn to page 11.
Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $582,000. Does the committee agree? By show of hands.
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the Office of the Clerk, beginning on page 13 with information items on page 15. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So as a first-time MLA, I have noticed that in our regular work when we are broadcast to the public, both in our committee work and here on this floor, there have been issues with technical difficulties, audio/visual difficulties, and I was wondering maybe if the Speaker or his staff could speak to if any budget is contemplated in the Office of the Clerk for renewing the systems? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With your permission, I'll turn discussion to Ms. Wickens, please.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy clerk.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. So back in 2022, the Legislative Assembly instituted a phased approach to update both the broadcasting and interpretation systems within the Legislative Assembly. Prior to the 20th Assembly, what we did was upgrade all the interpretation systems so that Members could also be understood as well as speak their official languages in the Chamber as well as our committee rooms. The second phase of the approach is to actually update the technology within the Chamber. And there's no line item within the main estimates at this time. What we're doing is exploring options, and then hopefully you'll see that in the near future. Thank you, Mr. Chair
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to deputy clerk for that answer. I ask simply because it's important that the people of the NWT see and hear us and see our deliberations in all of our capacities. So making sure we have systems that work, pretty important. So that's more a comment than anything. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Any Members that want to speak to on page 15? The Member from the Sahtu.
On page 15, more in the Office of the Clerk there. The summary, I'm looking at the House procedure and committees, and I see an increase in there, which is good. I just want some detail or clarification. Is it the Assembly committees that are getting this increase? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I thank the Member for the question. It's just for our reorganization as we move forward, so yes.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I totally support that increase there, and I just hope it's sufficient funding as I really see a need for some of these committees, particularly the social development committee, having to travel out to the communities of impact, some areas are more impacted than others, and I always find it more beneficial to sit face-to-face with the community leaders in their home setting and that'll give a better understanding of the various committees and the organizational structure of this Assembly and better understand how we function as a government to address the problems out in the communities. So that is more of a support notice for the increase to the committees. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. I'm going to go to any other Members that want to have any questions. Seeing none, thank you. No further questions, please turn to page 14.
Legislative Assembly, Office of the Clerk, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $10,408,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the Office of the Speaker, beginning on page 16 with information items on page 18. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 17.
Legislative Assembly, Office of the Speaker, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $552,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the statutory offices, beginning on page 19 with information items on page 22 and 23. Are there any questions? No further questions, please turn to page -- oh sorry. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're moving so quickly I can barely even get my hand up.
Yeah, I wanted to ask about the Integrity Commissioner's office. When the Integrity Commissioner presented to the Standing Committee on Government Ops that they've kind of indicated again and again, over the years, that they simply don't have the capacity to be responding to the volume of requests that they were getting in in a timely manner. And, you know, as the Commissioner's annual report shows, the time in responding to average requests, it takes quite a long time.
I'm just wondering if there -- you know, I note that the office has actually been reduced since 2022-2023. I'd just like to hear from the Speaker's office or staff on the Integrity Commissioner and whether they feel that office could be increased?
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Speaker with the question.
Thank you. I'd like to turn it to the deputy clerk, please.
I'll go to the deputy clerk.
I'll go to the clerk. Mr. Clerk.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Member could just clarify, is it the Integrity Commissioner or the Information and Privacy Commissioner?
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And yeah, I appreciate the clarification. I was trying to move quickly here because we were flipping through the pages so fast. Information and Privacy Commissioner is what I'm looking at. I was looking at the wrong numbers. I do note that the budget has gone up since 2022-2023, but yeah, just wondering about the Information and Privacy Commissioner's office and whether they are getting the resources they need to respond to requests in a timely manner.
Thank you. I'll go to the Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, for the Information and Privacy Commissioner, that office has actually increased in numbers. The previous, back in 2021, they had just the Commissioner and an admin position. We did a full review of that office, and they received two additional positions. At this time, each year, what we do is each statutory office presents to the board of management to identify any particular resources that they might need. When the Information and Privacy Commissioner came before the board, they didn't identify any additional resources at this time. They're fully staffed within the office. And so we potentially could see a request next year but there was no request this year for additional resources within that office. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, deputy clerk. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
That's it for me for questions on this page. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
