Debates of October 20, 2006 (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are in following up to my Member's statement with regard to the whistle-blower legislation, Mr. Speaker. I believe my question will be directed to the Minister of Justice. Yesterday, I believe, in the House, the Premier confirmed that there is a discussion paper in the works. Well, I guess it could be either Minister Bell or the Premier, whoever wants to answer. But I was a little taken aback, in a good way, that in fact this legislation is in the works, and I have to reiterate, once again, how many times during the course of my work that I get calls from constituents or whoever that has a concern, and without fail, every person is afraid of speaking out for whatever reason, rightly or wrongly, whether it's about their job, or their contract, their business, government policy or whatever. In a free and democratic society like Canada, which is supposed to be one of the most advanced, I don't think we should be tolerating that and we should do all we can to improve that situation. So I am encouraged by the Premier's statement that this is in the works, but he stated that it's in the works for the fall and this is already the middle of October. So I'd like to know if he could give us better information on the timing of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Honourable Minister of Justice. Honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for the discussion paper and whistle-blower legislation rests with the Minister of Human Resources, so, Mr. Speaker, I'd ask that be referred to him.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 151-15(5): Whistle-Blower Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Premier stated and comments raised in this House by Members, the whistle-blower legislation portion has been discussed a number of times. The Member for Range Lake has made this an issue on a number of occasions, and we have taken that and begun to work on it. I'm, very shortly, going to be presenting my Cabinet colleagues with the beginnings of a discussion paper and then if I get approval at that stage, I'll be coming to the Members with that discussion paper and see from there if we go out for public discussion on that basis, and then, from there, begin preparation on legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 151-15(5): Whistle-Blower Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would presume that the end result of this process would be that there will be legislation required. But as it is, it's in a very preliminary discussion period so I would think that you don't have to have all the t's crossed and i's dotted before people could participate and really engage in the discussion about something I think that's more important for the North in the small communities. So would the Minister be encouraged to hurry up, and could we possibly see this within the next month or so, so that we can engage our people into full discussion? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 151-15(5): Whistle-Blower Legislation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of working in a consensus-style government, yes, we are prepared. I believe we can have something to committee probably within the next month. Thank you.