Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With regard to Bill 8, Mr. Chairman, An Act to Amend the Elections Act, the purpose of this bill before you is to amend the Elections Act to lower the age at which a resident may vote at a territorial election for its Legislative Assembly, from 19 to 18 years of age.
Mr. Chairman, this amendment was a result of direction given to cabinet by Motion 31-12(1), which adopted the voting age at an election in the Northwest Territories be changed from 19 to 18 years of age. The motion was adopted unanimously by the Assembly, and it also requested that cabinet introduce the necessary amendments to the Local Authorities Elections Act and the Plebiscite Act. This is the reason for the amendment before you, as well as the amendments contained in Bills 10 and 11 which I understand we will be handling later, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.