Does the committee agree?

Agreed.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses in. Mr. Handley, can you please introduce your witnesses?

Thank you. We are now open for general comments. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. Minister Handley.

Thank you. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. Minister Handley.

Thank you. Mr. Hamilton.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The legislation as drafted is silent on whether an electoral boundaries commission could have access to a list after a general election, for example. It would depend on how quickly or how soon a boundaries commission was established and how valuable that information would be to them.

However, the only condition that is put on the sharing of information from a list -- it is very restrictive under the legislation, what it can be used for -- the information provided on the list is only supposed to be available and used for an electoral event.

There is a provision in the act that allows an elected candidate, if you were a candidate and you were elected at the next Assembly, to receive a copy of the voters list, the final voters list, as the elected Member. That list can be used by an elected Member to contact his or her constituents.

I would probably see that giving this information to a boundaries commission, of which one of its prime purposes is to look at voter patrons, voter turnout, it would be available to get this information.

Also, at the end of each election, the Chief Electoral Officer has to prepare a report that has all of the official results. It gives voter information in that as well. There is an amount of information available that a boundaries commission could have access to.

Thank you. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. Mr. Hamilton.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The legislation as drafted allows for a territorial-wide enumeration to create the first register within six months of coming into force of the section of the act. As soon as the act is brought into force by the Commissioner, the CEO has to, within six months, conduct a territorial-wide enumeration to create the start of the register.

The mechanisms and the processes once the act is approved gives the authority to the Chief Electoral Officer to prepare the register and the public information, the computerized databank and so on. That work is underway already as well, but needs the final approval of the House for the legal authority to create the register.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to ask one or two questions regarding the opening remarks by the Minister. Mr. Chairman, I see the provision of proxy voting has been eliminated. At any given time, the Northwest Territories is a very busy place, especially during the fall months of our calendar year, which means that many people in our communities travel quite a bit for meetings, conferences and other matters.

What kind of system will be in place to replace the proxy voting system for those individuals who may not be in their electoral ridings during the election? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Hamilton.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There have been provisions added to the act to allow for special ballots. This is similar to what we instituted for the last election, with special mail-in ballots, but we are not calling it mail-in ballots. There are special ballots that individuals can apply for and receive if they are not able to be in their constituency or in their home community. This would be for mail, as well. They can be hand-delivered. They can be provided to the returning officers rather than having them sent to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

We have improved the accessibility for an individual who happens to have left the Territory for medical reasons on short notice and did not have the chance to vote before they left, so we have a provision that now enhances the availability of a ballot to anybody who falls within that category, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Nitah.