Jackson Lafferty

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.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have Mark Aitken, director of legislation, and Gary MacDougall, director of legal registries. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 2, Settlement of International Investment Disputes Act. The purpose of the bill is to provide for adoption in the Northwest Territories of the Convention on the Settlement on Investment Disputes between States and National of Other States. The convention established the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an institution of the World Bank, in the belief that the centre would promote international investment, especially in developing countries where people are fearful of investing because...

Certainly part of the long-term plans that we talked about within our department and also with the board of governors with Aurora College is strengthening our program delivery through Aurora College. The three campuses that we have here in the Northwest Territories, we need to strengthen that and make it exposed to all the students that are here in the Northwest Territories. Also, we have students from outside the Northwest Territories that attend our college as well. It has been a northern college recognition also going on to national recognition as a college. We do offer university courses...

I do believe I answered the Member’s question on the college itself, the university that he is referring to. As I stated, we are still…It’s all preliminary right now. We’re working with the facts that we have before us. As the Member alluded to, previous Ministers have been discussing this. It was a discussion item at that time. We are working on that with the communities, with the board of governors as well. Because we can, certainly on that portion on our end alone, we continue to strive to make that part of the capital plans for the next few years.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The funding we do provide, the contribution agreements to the daycare centres are to cover the operation and maintenance costs and also the rental costs and the mortgage. Those are the expenses that we cover for ongoing daycare operations here in the Northwest Territories. We do continue to provide the funding and whether it be the capital or base plus, that is the area of discussion that we can certainly have.

As I stated earlier, wherever we can improve our program, we are always keeping our options open. We are always improving our programs. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I believe the Member alluded to the Early Childhood Certification Program through Aurora College. We do certify them in that respect. Whether it be the legislation to, I’m not sure what the Member’s referring to, but certainly those are the areas we need to continue to discuss. I’d like to hear more feedback from the Member on where he’s going with this. Certainly we’re open to ideas and suggestions within our department. As I stated earlier, we will be going through our next phase of business planning process, so we continue to look for options from the Members.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 4, Public Library Act, be read for the third time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.