Kieron Testart

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. Speaker. I, too, will rise to commend the long service Mr. Schauerte has given to this institution and to us, in particular, on the Regular Members' side. I may have studied politics before I got here, but I certainly did not know how the sausage was made, and Doug is an excellent sausage-maker.

Other Members may know, since I have been here over the last two years, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning our procedures and practices here, and one thing I am going to miss most about Doug leaving is arguing with him over how best to do those policies and practices and always throwing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is not the federal government's responsibility to fund our communities. It is this government's responsibility. The city's budgets are done on a calendar year. Can the Minister commit to getting this work done before the end of the calendar year so the city can have certainty about what their fiscal room is going to look like?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister about the $400,000 decrease for the Syncrolift project. This is something we discussed in our review of the capital budget estimates. I would like to know if the Minister could just explain how this $400,000 project appeared in the capital when it was supposed to be paid out of the revolving fund just for our clarification. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Your committee would like to consider Tabled Document 2-18(3), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2017-2018; Tabled Document 3-18(3), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2018-2019; and Committee Report 1-18, Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Review of the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Elections, Supplementary Recommendations, and the White Paper on the Independence and Accountability of Election Administration in the Northwest Territories. Thank...

I can't see the Minister's shoes under his desk, but I assume they're dancing shoes, because he didn't quite answer the question. I asked him why he has eliminated the independence of the board and combined it with management, which undermines the credibility of the Power Corporation. Northerners are frustrated to see their power rates continue to rise, and have no trust in this organization. The Minister has further damaged that trust by this decision. So will the Minister at least commit to re-visiting these decisions and installing an independent board that can direct the corporation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the recent climate change audit reveals, we have a large task before us in addressing our climate change goals and objectives, and also transitioning to a clean energy economy. The Northwest Territories Power Corporation serves an important role there, and I'd like to ask the Minister responsible today if he can respond to a few of the decisions he's made around the governance of that corporation.

In 2005, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat released a report called the Review of Governance Framework for Canada's Crown Corporations. In there, they define a Crown...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that this is something that the Chief Electoral Officer recommended. I think the committee has taken an important step in recommending that we do some work before making those kind of changes. In other jurisdictions they vary, but often the central election body or the provincial election body does send teams in to support municipal level elections, and that can be very helpful when you may have a situation where the chief administrative officer of a municipality is also the returning officer and, if there is a dispute over the results, they have to basically act...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, want to commend the work of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures. This committee has met extensively throughout the life of this Assembly, and has had many meetings on many matters that have been brought before it, and they have helped clarify everything from our code of conduct, guidelines, to the Mid-Term Review, and ultimately this is the last large piece of work that they have undertaken, and it was a substantial piece of work.

I also want to mention the Chief Electoral Officer has brought forward a very substantial work on her own initiative, and it...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I suppose that is a conversation as if and when it happens. I do know that discussion over the future of MTS is still a conversation that we have yet to have, but it's not the right place to have it here. All I will say is that I thank the Minister for clarifying this budget line item and taking the necessary steps to remove it and pay for the Syncrolift facility from the revolving fund, which is appropriate based on the establishment of that revolving fund. Thank you.