Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: The Plain Language Summary for Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Real Estate Agents??? Licensing Act; Statement of Consistency for Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Real Estate Agents??? Licensing Act; and, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal 2024 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, be read for the second time.
The proposed amendments to the Vital Statistics Act will improve servicing relating to birth registrations and certificates. The amended Act will reflect notions about gender and family structure that have changed since the Vital Statistics Act was last significantly amended in 2017. Amendments would allow 16 to 18-year-olds to change their gender on their birth certificate or allow for individuals to request removing the sex designation on their birth certificate and provide that up to four parents can be named on a birth registration.
The bill also establishes a new certificate for change of gender for persons not born in the Northwest Territories who are unable to change their gender in the jurisdictions where their birth was registered.
Amendments would also clarify the requirements for registration of home births and update the requirements relating to the completion of medical certificates of death.
The bill makes other changes to the Act that are procedural in nature.
The bill also amends the Change of Name Act to allow 16 to 18-year-olds to change their name and provide discretion to the registrar general and vital statistics to decline to publish a notice of change of name if the reason of the name relates to being transgender, nonbinary, gender diverse, 2-spirit Indigenous. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. The question is shall Bill 40 be read for a second time. All those in favour? Opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried. Bill 40 has been read for a second time and is referred to standing committee of the Assembly for further consideration.
---Carried
Second reading of bills. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, second by the honourable Member for Twin Lakes, that Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Real Estate Agents??? Licensing Act, be read for the second time.
This bill modernizes licensing rules and introduces new professional categories to expand customer protection. This bill expands licensing to home inspectors, introducing a code of conduct, and requiring standardized forms.
The Real Estate Agents??? Licensing Act will be renamed the Real Estate Professional Licensing Act to reflect the expanded scope. Modernizing this Act will strengthen consumer protection and improve regulations of the real estate industry.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried. Bill 41 has been read for a second time and is referred to the standing committee of the Assembly for further consideration.
---Carried
Thank you. I now call the Committee of the Whole to order. I am going to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates, the Department of Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We'll take a short 20-minute break.
---SHORT RECESS
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates. We will now consider the Department of Infrastructure. Does the Minister of Infrastructure wish to bring in witnesses into the House?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.
Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me here to my left, your right, is deputy minister Cathy Maniego. And to my right, your left, Miranda Bass, director of corporate service.
Thank you. The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the details contained in the tabled documents? Committee, agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we'll defer the department summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning with asset management starting on page 265, with information items on page 267 and 268. Are there any questions? No further questions, please -- oh, okay. Please turn to page 266.
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. It always takes us a moment to get our binders organized here. I just wanted to ask about fleet management. So that's the area that we see the largest increase here in the estimates. And I understand that we have a relatively new initiative around consolidating our fleet management, so I wonder if the Minister can explain what that's all about and what is causing such a large jump in our budget for that item this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is a new initiative put forward to consolidate our fleet management which essentially entitles three new positions. We got fleet coordinators as part of that and all the other operating systems behind it, I guess, to operate the new fleet management for us. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So with these three new positions, can the Minister confirm whether they are indeterminate or are they for a set term, or is it for a period of time to accomplish something sort of discrete over a few years? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Like anything else that's new, I am sure there'll be a little bit of a rough start but they are indeterminate positions to start the program, get it running, and then we'll, you know, get the employees operational with the fleet management. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. So my assumption would be that the hope is to save money with this initiative by consolidating our fleet. So what cost savings do we expect to see and when might we expect to see them? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So the goal is to save money and, you know, at the end of the day what we're trying to do is have a better management of our fleet and our operations and, you know, basically know where our fleet is, the age of the fleet, the maintenance of it, the required maintenance, the locations, and everything else. But it's also, you know, being able to check the lifecycles, making sure that we're utilizing our fleet in its proper means, and basically the type of equipment and everything like that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So can the Minister commit to get back to us, then, with more information about any specifics on how much we might expect to save and timelines for those cost savings? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have the full details on obviously cost savings at the moment, but I will commit to coming back and reporting back to committee as we're going along. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay. And, finally, can the Minister just confirm is part of the job of these three new positions to keep data and sort of issue reports on the kinds of cost savings and what difference it's making? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So part of this is the whole picture of operating the fleet management. You know, so part of this is also installing programs to monitor our fleet, you know, usage of vehicles, wear and tear, location of vehicles. So this all relates to the whole big picture of fleet management. These positions will help coordinate all this and help operate the whole fleet management program throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
That's all for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Are there any further questions? I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
