Thank you, Madam Chair. Some brief comments and a question. Of course, I am speaking here as a proponent of the bill. It's one of the larger ones to come before this Assembly so far, Madam Chair, at about 360 clauses.

I guess one very general observation I would make about this kind of legislation, Madam Chair, is elections are one of the very significant cornerstones of democracy and of the faith and the trust that our constituents have in how they choose their representatives. It's not something that should ever be taken for granted. That is a very strong and compelling reason for this legislation to come forward. It modernizes and cleans up many election practices, brings them into line with what works for us here in the Northwest Territories and what is good practice elsewhere.

One of the interesting things that I have come to understand about democracy, from connection with some of our events with the Commonwealth countries of the world, is that even among countries in the Commonwealth, there is great discrepancy and variance in how elections are run, in their integrity and in the confidence that people can have in them. I think Canada is very fortunate to have one of the most stringent election processes in the Commonwealth. For that we should be proud, but we should never, of course, never take that for granted. That is why even though we have, as I say, one

of the biggest bills yet to come before this Assembly, it is a very important one.

Madam Chair, a question I would like to ask relates to the plebiscites portion of the bill. I believe this bill reflects an amalgamation where there were two separate acts; one an Elections Act and prior to that a Plebiscites Act and they are now one.

It has been problematic, Madam Chair, especially for some smaller communities, that when plebiscites are held, there have been some pretty stringent requirements for approval or passage of some plebiscites. Very high numbers of the population, it's my recollection, were required to turn out and a high number of voters had to go one way or the other. This was especially problematic, Madam Chair, for plebiscites in some communities for control of liquor.

I am wondering if this new act, Madam Chair, changes any of those criteria or makes it more convenient or less stringent to have approval or passage of a plebiscite in a community, compared to what I understand were very stringent requirements before. Have we changed those at all, Madam Chair?