Jackson Lafferty

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 5-16(3), I wish to table the following document entitled North Slave Correctional Centre - Remand Statistics. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly I can provide…My department can provide the information that’s available to the Members, not just from the Yellowknife Centre Member but all Members as well. We do have the facts in place, the discussion paper that’s been discussed at that time and where we’re going with it. Also, the board of governors meeting that we had, the minutes of the meeting, there’s been a paper trail that’s been documented, so we can certainly provide that to the Members.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. First of all I think we need to be proud of our northern college that we have here in the North, the three campuses that we have. I would consider them as a college and also a university because we do deliver university programs, degree programs that we’re actively pursuing and other programs as well. So with the standalone university, I think we already see that in the Northwest Territories. Every time we meet with the board of governors, certainly that topic of discussion has been discussed and it’s part of a long-term planning basis for the whole Northwest Territories...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have Mark Aitken, director of legislation. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the purpose of Bill 15, the Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

a)

it must not be controversial;

b)

it must not involve the spending of public funds;

c)

it must not prejudicially affect rights;

d)

it must create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Departments responsible for the various statutes being...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

I did mention in this House that there is a business plan in process that will be underway after session concludes. That’s when we can start opening a discussion with the standing committee. I’m willing to meet with the standing committee and we will continue with our dialogue on how we can improve our program.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly this is one area we need more consultation with the general public. It will be, I guess, a bigger discussion that we need to have within this Legislative Assembly. We need to hear the input of the general public. We can certainly work towards that with the Members of the standing committee on how we can pursue that.