Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is recommendation 12. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to:

require the Chief Electoral Officer to notify the complainant in writing with reasons, if the Chief Electoral Officer decides not to conduct an investigation of a complaint;

make it an offence to obstruct the Chief Electoral Officer or his or her designate in carrying out an inspection or investigation under this act, or to withhold, conceal or destroy any records, documents or things relevant to the investigation;

provide that when the Chief Electoral...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to be able to respond to my honourable colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes. I am happy to try to respond. The effect of this motion would be to delete the provision in the existing Elections Act to move our Territorial election into November if there is a federal election around the same time. Yes, to be clear and open about it, that is what the effect of this motion would be.

We had quite a discussion at committee about this. The Chief Electoral Officer in her report, as well, identified a number of problems with having our election that late in November. It...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the very clear answer from the Minister there. I don't really expect a response here. It is more of a comment that we are still underfunding our district education authorities for 2017-2018 by about $1.7 million, asking them to deliver programs and services within their authority for JK students and it is not fully funded. No matter what the Minister has said on this topic, or his Cabinet colleagues, junior kindergarten is not fully funded. Our district education authorities have to make up this shortfall themselves in some way to provide programming for our...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is Recommendation 11 of the report. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to require the Chief Electoral Officer to submit an annual report to the Legislative Assembly describing work done under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer pursuant to the act;

require the Chief Electoral Officer to submit a report to the Legislative Assembly after each election or plebiscite about the conduct of the election or plebiscite;

provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the option of combining his or her reports into one in the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The second motion is: I move that this Assembly recommend that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to set the first Tuesday in October as polling day, and that the November alternative polling day be eliminated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following document, "Northwest Territories Mineral Sector Review and Benchmarking," by Andrew Bauer Consultant. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that. This other work that is being done, why is it not being released now so that we can actually a meaningful and engaged public discussion about this? Holding onto this until after the public engagement meetings are already done, that just doesn't seem to make any sense. It is very important to properly research alternatives and options, present them to the public for an informed and meaningful input in order to get the new Mineral Resources Act right.

Is the Minister prepared to release more of the department's internal work and extend the consultation on the new...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure why it's going to be paid out over 10 years, but it seems like some of those carrying costs are going to be put on to the public purse rather than through the revolving fund itself, which doesn't sound quite right to me. What's the implication of having a deficit in the supplementary reserve and how does that affect our compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Policy? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister responsible for mining. My statement described a recently released study that reviewed the NWT sector and compared it against international standards. The GNWT Commission Study says that we mostly failed or there is room for significant improvements. Can the Minister tell us when this study was completed and why it was released well after any of the public engagement meetings on the Mineral Resources Act? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess the information I had was that it was actually in a deficit position of around $9 million. Perhaps, can Mr. Stewart confirm those figures? Thanks, Mr. Chair.