Rylund Johnson

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it's my hope that since this was a priority of this Assembly that we would see something in this Assembly. And if we have to live with an action plan that, you know, we get on the last day and we actually don't do any of the work in it in the life of this Assembly, well, that's better than nothing. And I guess the other debate here is that BC and the federal government have introduced actual legislation which create a legal obligation for the government to do this work and for departments to do this work. Are we going to see legislation to implement the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm curious about any internal work that's kind of occurring. I recognize that there are larger questions that the declaration raises, you know, how we are going to operationalize free prior informed consent is obviously a very large question we have to work with the Council of Leaders. But to me, there's a number of smaller internal changes to GNWT internal policies, perhaps our consultation policies, perhaps how we structure the government to empower regions differently. I think there's probably a lot of work that we just need to do internally.

So my question...

Well, if the Premier's going to do it, I'll do it too. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a Yellowknife North constituent Lee Mandeville, a friend and colleague of Adrian Lizotte, and one heck of a fiddle player as well, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment impose timebound requirements on public bodies to respond to the recommendations from the Languages Commissioner. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends the Department of Education, Culture and Employment clarify the role of the languages commissioner, specifically regarding how the languages commissioner may bring forward concerns and recommendations to the Minister responsible for Official Languages. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the list of amendments are pretty innocuous and I'm not all that opposed to them. But I do want to speak to I think is an absolute priority that this Assembly amend the Liquor Act. I know the department did a What We Heard, did some engagement, and has gotten that feedback from the public which we hopefully will see soon. And it raises some very significant questions about how we're going to update our outdated liquor regime in this territory. Clearly this bill does not do that. But I grow concerned by introducing this amendment to the Liquor Act. It is...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I'd like to begin by I'd like to thank the Premier today who tabled the GNWT's territorial principles and interests, and I'm going to speak to that a bit in that in conjunction with this report. I think that's a great step, and I think this report is a great step in bringing some transparency to this issue.

I have spent lots of time, both in this committee and otherwise, trying to figure out and get to the heart of why we are not settling, I'm going to speak specifically and start with land claims, in the NWT most specifically the Akaitcho, Deh Cho, and Metis land...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha, that Committee Report 3019(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations report on the review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner be received by the Assembly and referred to the committee as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess, you know, I recognize it's largely a symbolic position but from where I sit, one of the parts that kind of rubbed me wrong is the mandatory nature of swearing an oath of allegiance. You know, perhaps you're an Irish member and there's been some blood shed on both sides of that. Perhaps you're of Scottish descent and you got a grandpa who's a strong independence movement, Mr. Speaker. You know, there's no shortage of countries that have fought very hard to be free of our sweet Queen's rule.

But my question is, does our Premier support amending the rules of this House so...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, admittedly, I just must be out of touch because when I first heard that His Royal Highness was coming here, I just kind of expected that people would not be all that excited and that there was a pretty normal opinion to not support monarchy, and I was quite surprised. I guess I've been living under a bit of a rock when it comes to the royal family, Mr. Speaker.

But I guess my first question is I know that these royal visits usually cost Canada a few hundred thousand dollars, at least. But my question is was there any cost to the GNWT; did we have to chip in for...