Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be speaking in favour of the bill with a couple of comments that, like my
colleague, I would like to note for the record. As the Minister explained in his opening remarks, these are measures that we are bringing into play not for ourselves or this Assembly, of course, Mr. Chair, but as criteria and conditions I think that will improve the environment for our successors in the 16th Assembly.
Some of the amendments, as Ms. Lee has noted, will adjust for some of the variances and the discrepancies that our out-of-town or out-of-Yellowknife colleagues have experienced. I know that their voices were heard, and, I think, to a very large extent, supported by the more sort of urban, if you will, Members from the larger centres. In that context, Mr. Chair, I would like to extend my appreciation to the commission -- really, this was headed by Mr. Jake Oates, a former Member of this Assembly -- and thank them for taking this task to the people of the NWT and for bringing us back a report that we are able to deal with.
Mr. Chair, one other thing in this that has caused me some concern over my sort of term-and-a-half here has been our ability to be able to police ourselves, if you will, or monitor ourselves at least in terms of our attendance and involvement during our regular business. This is something that was reflected in a former or, with the recommendation on the books now, where certain types of unexcused absences could be fined. We have never been able to bring this to bear for a number of reasons. I am not going to go into it other than to speculate that this is a very political environment we are in and some things are done with a certain degree of confidence and comfort and others aren't. What this bill brings in, though, Mr. Chair, is not a situation where we have to sort of be policemen amongst each other or seem to be punishing each other. It is a difficult thing to do in our environment. Rather, we are going to serve the interests of the people of the NWT in a much more transparent manner by asking our Speaker to table on a sessional basis, which would be at least three times a year then, the attendance record of every Member at duly called committee meetings and processes. That is where I think at least that aspect of our performance and our service as MLAs can be seen and then, of course, measured by anyone who cares to take an interest.
Mr. Chair, I guess I did have one question, and I am wondering if I may pose it to our witnesses now, where I believe, Mr. Chair, the types of increments or increases that are proposed in the bill are quite reasonable and perhaps even prudent and modest. There are some areas where we have found it appropriate, especially in the interest of Members from outside of Yellowknife, to increase their allowances. I am wondering if the Minister or his witnesses could give the Assembly some idea, perhaps on an annual basis, what the anticipated extra increase in costs is to running the Assembly under these new criteria, Mr. Chair.
