Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to, again, just add a little bit more context to what we heard from Ms. Bisaro and talk about, with respect to this public accounts review, that there was a number of public agencies that did not meet reporting deadlines and, according to the Auditor General, they were the South Slave Divisional Education Council, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Aurora College and the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation, otherwise known as BDIC.

Now, we went through the review of each one of them as to why and the Auditor General was indicating to us...

Thank you. I have no further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to welcome Mr. Blake to the witness table, and colleagues.

Just some housekeeping items with respect to this act. When something like this comes into play it will definitely factor into the quantities, the dollar figures in the pension fund and make changes thereof. Has there been any actuarial performance done as to what impact this may have on our current plan?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned the other day, it’s hard not to get caught up in this polarizing drama when the concept of fracking is discussed, and we did that the other day and we’re doing it today as well. So, the truth, Mr. Speaker, as I said, this well has been poisoned a very long time ago, with both extreme views on both sides of the fence, on ideology, scepticism and now science is being involved.

Looking around the globe, activists, social media, environmentalists, scientists, industry and media have done a commendable job getting this issue on the floor of democracy, and today...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice develop the processes and safeguards necessary to ensure that staff are knowledgeable about the rules they are required to enforce and that they have the training necessary to do their jobs effectively. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Everything is public record. The Minister of NTPC and the Premier have said many times during the session that the government has no intention to expropriate Northland Utilities from the NWT. It’s hard for me to believe that when this government has introduced government policy after government policy and has penalized Northland Utilities’ customers just because of who serves them. For example, when this government eliminated community-based rates and moved to seven rate zones in 2010, this government allowed NTPC to inappropriately transfer $4 million of its costs to Northland Utilities’...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This motion is somewhat self-explanatory, but to put it into context, as well, committee, not that long ago, and Regular Members, as well, went through a business planning process to which all departments bring forward performance indicators, I guess compass waypoints, dashboard indicators that show the performance of their departments. In this case here, this would have been the corrections services. I would assume that, and from our review, a lot of these indicators…and there wasn’t a lot of them, was probably the question. So, we’re hoping that through the process of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the press release issued recently by Northland Utilities, it identifies a number of government policies as a reason for the rate disparities in communities, particularly in Hay River and Fort Smith. It also states its willingness to meet with this government, NTPC and First Nation groups to discuss and fix these policies. Is the Premier prepared to do this?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier today the Standing Committee on Government Operations read into the record its report on its review of the 2015 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on Corrections in the Northwest Territories.

The Auditor General’s report, which was tabled in this Assembly on March 3, 2015, concluded that the Department of Justice has not met its key responsibilities for inmates within the corrections system. The audit found that while the department had adequately planned for its facilities, it did not adequately operate facilities to house inmates in compliance with key...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 100(4) and have Committee Report 19-17(5), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2015 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on Corrections in the Northwest Territories, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted