Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, working with the Department of Justice, develop a detailed and costed plan to guide the implementation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act for Municipalities.

And further, that the plan identify: I) time lines for the inclusion of different categories of municipalities in the access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act regulations; II) the resources needed by each municipal government to comply with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee would like to consider Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29: An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, "2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework 2019-2023 Action Plan." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to the Legislative Assembly's own website, the role of Regular Members is to sit as the unofficial opposition. They are "responsible, through questioning in the House and the work of standing committees, for holding the government accountable and responsive to the people of the Northwest Territories."

For Regular Members to do their job effectively in holding government accountable and responsive to the people of the NWT, Regular Members require expedient and complete access to information of government activities. In our current system, all information...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 29, an Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, be deemed ready for third reading as amended. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Clause 17 of Bill 29 be amended by deleting "proposed clause to 24.1" and substituting the following:

"24.1(1) subject to subsection (2), the head of a public body shall refuse to disclose to an applicant labour relations information

the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to reveal information supplied to, or the report of, an arbitrator, mediator, labour relations officer, or other person or body appointed to resolve or inquire into a labour relations matter, including information or records prepared by or for the public body in contemplation of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that I have spoken at length about the importance of this bill, and I will refer interested viewers back to those previous comments. It is great legislation, and the one thing that I will say is that the collaboration with the Minister's office was greatly appreciated. We have achieved consensus on every issue brought forward by committee, and it has greatly improved the bill and shown just how effective this legislature can be when it puts its mind to collaborating on legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As noted in our report on page 10, the inclusion of local housing associations is something that the committee identified as a concern. However, as with any clause-by-clause review of legislation, the committee's role is to determine how best to address that concern. In this case, committee felt that amendment to the law would be inconsistent with how the legislation operates to be inclusive of government agencies or public bodies. That is through regulations. The committee felt that the best way to address this concern of ensuring that local housing associations are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In virtually every community organization that came forward, including the first responders who worked in emergency services in the communities which the committee consulted, the number one concern was ensuring that -- sorry, I'm getting confused with other consultations, because we've been doing so many of them. Sorry, Mr. Chair.

In all the community governments we spoke to, including representatives from the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, the concern has been that a new access regime that applies to municipalities will bring with it additional...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak to the committee's report. I am not going to speak at length, as we read the full contents of the report into the record yesterday, and I believe that that took approximately an hour and a half, because it is, to my understanding, the third-longest report that has been produced by a committee, in the history of this sitting, at least.

It shows the tremendous amount of work that the committee did, putting together their review of Bill 29. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the very hard work that staff, both committee staff and the staff of...