Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my honourable friend, the Member for Frame Lake, had some questions about a lobbyist registry and lobbyists in the Northwest Territories. I am wondering if the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency can indicate if this government continues to hold the position that a lobbyist registry is not required in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. This government does maintain that position. We simply don't feel that is necessary as a small jurisdiction, and also there is, of course, a considerable amount of information regarding our contacts with those outside of the government that is provided. Thank you.
Can the Minister elaborate on why the size of our jurisdiction does not require to know who is influencing government decision-making? Apart from a list of meetings that is published by choice, there is nothing in legislation that requires an increased level of scrutiny on who the government is talking to. We have industry here. We have the involvement of large corporations involved in the resource sector. Is this not a priority, that our citizens be informed of who our decision makers are meeting with when they are outside of this building? I would like to hear an answer from the Minister.
Yes. Information regarding Cabinet's meetings with those in the industry, of course, can be known. We simply do not feel it is necessary, at this time, to have a public registry that would doubtless involve some costs, and may actually involve hiring someone to run or take care of the registry. We simply don't feel that it is necessary. We think we are providing the type of information that is required to the public.
I know the Minister likes to be fiscally prudent along with his Cabinet colleagues. The Minister said that he believes that is sufficient to maintain public confidence. How is he coming to that conclusion? Has he consulted with the people of the Northwest Territories on the subject of a lobbyist registry? How do we know this for sure? Has any consultation been performed on behalf of his portfolio to gauge what the public is looking for, for increased public accountability from this government?
I haven't had any formal engagement with the public at large. I can advise, however, that around this table, the Cabinet is extremely experienced in this matter. We are very experienced and competent Ministers. We have discussed this. Our position simply is, as you have heard earlier, that the present manner of dealing with contact between Cabinet Ministers and industry is sufficient.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am certainly not questioning the competency of our Cabinet Ministers. That is not what is at stake here. What is at stake here is maintaining the confidence that decision-making is publicly recorded. The many lobbyists of jurisdictions have lobbyist registries that provide a certificate that says what a lobbyist is going to be doing, who they are speaking to, and reports of communications between government and their clients. I guess I continue to fail to understand why this isn't required for our jurisdiction. We have a rather large budget at our disposal. How we spend that money, how we make decisions about changing regulations and supporting those industries is important, but equally important is that people have confidence that their decision-makers are making decisions on behalf of Northerners, for Northerners and not on behalf of special interest groups. Again, if the Minister could educate me on why he is so certain that Northerners do not want this information to be publicly available to them, I would be happy to know. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This information is publicly available. We simply feel that a formal registry would be overly cumbersome.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
