Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Very quickly, the code, when it is passed by the House, is binding on MLAs at the time and any future MLAs. There is not a requirement for our future MLAs to actually sign the code in any kind of public way. The recommendation here is that there still be a symbolic signing when MLAs are sworn in just so the public can see that they have agreed publicly to accept the code of conduct and live by it. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 39 be amended by adding the following immediately preceding the heading preceding section 23:

Review of Act

22.2 (1) This act must be reviewed by the Minister within 18 months after the commencement of the 20th Legislative Assembly.

(2) the Minister shall table in the Legislative Assembly a report on the results of a review conducted under subsection (1) at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's remarks. Of course, we can't bind a future Assembly to do anything. Given that this act has only really ever received comprehensive review in 29 years, hopefully, we can find other ways to ensure that we keep up to date and have best practices here with regard to environmental rights.

Along those lines, one of the recommendations from standing committee was that the department perhaps can and should find better ways to promote environmental rights with the use of the current act and the changes that we are going to bring forward for consideration...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, in my introductory remarks, I neglected to thank my fellow committee Members for the hard work that they did and the public for the submissions that we received.

To the motion, Mr. Chair, with the changes in Bill 56, we are going to transition the Conflict of Interest Commissioner to become an Integrity Commissioner, and the Integrity Commissioner can deal with complaints by any Member of the public with regard to any possible breaches of the Code of Conduct by future MLAs.

What this is going to do is provide a place where the reports, annual reports and so on, of the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The purpose of this motion is to add a couple more items to the list of subject matter for the annual report that the Minister is going to table in the Legislative Assembly. Right now, the Minister will report on investigations, prosecutions, actions, the disposition of any money, convictions for offences under this act, so it is a very short list of what is to be reported on. What has happened here is some improvements to the bill as I mentioned earlier. One of the big improvements, in my view, and I want to give the department credit for this is this idea of a statement of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is the department then contemplating bringing any of these items back into the Environmental Rights Act in the future? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will keep this very brief. We read the report into the House, I think it was yesterday. The Rules and Procedures Committee held public hearings in three different locations, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, and Inuvik, on some changes that are going to be forthcoming for discussion.

These are changes to the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. Just quickly, these will:

modify the oath of office sworn by Members to include obligations;

clarify conflict of interest regime in respect of Members and former Members;

require adoption by the Legislative Assembly of a Code of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I accept the interpretation from the law clerk about how this would be applied. This would, in my view, not be applied to every decision. This is meant to be helpful guidance in determining those matters that would significantly affect the environment where the statement of environmental values would come into play. I don't think this takes away from anybody's decision-making authority. It is about trying to provide some assistance in how the statement of environmental values will actually work in practise. Using the criteria that the Minister has already accepted in another...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Earlier, I mentioned that one of the improvements in the bill is going to be a state of the environment report that is required. There is state of the environment reporting already taking place, pursuant to the Mackenzie Valley Resources Management Act, part 6, and I guess committee felt that it was important to coordinate these sort of state of the environment reporting efforts no matter what piece of legislation they may be carried out under. Under the proposed forest act, there was supposed to be a state of the forest report, as well. ENR does a good job at pulling these...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to ask some questions about the Food Establishment Safety Regulations that I found out about today through the Minister's statement. I was contacted while we were in the House here by someone who prepares food for sale at the Yellowknife Farmer's Market. Can the Minister tell us what sort of public engagement took place around the development of the Food Establishment Safety Regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.