Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My attempt in June to see a construction contract related to our own government building has illustrated some serious problems in terms of access to information for Members. Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, MLAs have no more rights or privileges than the public, and in some cases, public access is severely restricted or hampered with red tape.
I know some limits are needed, but I believe public access to government information could be improved and, with it, public confidence in the way we are governed.
Some quick facts, Mr. Speaker: the Information and Privacy Commissioner recommended a full review of the act in the 2010-2011 annual report, and in her own words, “This review has not been done since the act came into force almost 17 years ago.” Mr. Speaker, our main goals in reviewing and updating the act should be to improve access to information to all residents and ensure their privacy is protected.
Another major goal is to entrench MLAs’ access to a broader range of information on a confidential basis than is generally available to the public.
Let me remind everyone here, this category of access is the cornerstone to the success of consensus government. If Members cannot get access to the information they need, the consensus system will ultimately fail.
I suspect the Justice Minister will say it is not necessary to add to the act or to provide special access to information for Members. In fact, he more likely will say that there’s a process convention in place that the Assembly has adopted.
That said, I’m here to say that it is not enough, Mr. Speaker. Conventions are not as strong as clearly defined rights founded in legislation. We can access no less if we are faithfully building a system of government that is open and accountable to both Members and the public at large. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday we had some pretty good discussions here in the House during Committee of the Whole on Aurora Campus and the need for a new stand-alone campus with the planning studies. However, we do have a lot of other facilities here in the Northwest Territories. We have three facilities that allow post-secondary education for our residents of the Northwest Territories and I just want to speak to those.
As the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, I do represent a community where the region and the Aurora Campus itself does have space and availability to offer new programs in these spaces working forward. I also want to talk about Fort Smith, as well, as another campus that can provide space.
Up in Inuvik we also have an opportunity here with the new fibre optic link operating with the Aurora Research Institute to develop and create some…
This is before committee, so your Member’s statement is concluded. Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Moses, I should have caught that earlier. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
