Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. I’ll allow the mover of the motion closing remarks, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank all my colleagues for their remarks. I in particular would like to thank the Minister for his considered remarks. I appreciate the actions that the department is taking and I will hopefully see that some of the discussion today is going to come to fruition.

I’d like to comment on a bit of a technical point. A couple of people have mentioned that we’re creating legislation if this goes through and technically, no, we’re not. We already have the

legislation. We’re asking for an amendment to an existing piece of legislation. So we’re not really creating more laws.

I totally agree with the Drive Alive program. I think it’s a valuable program and I think that it is something that we need to continue. However, there are way too many people who don’t believe that distracted driving creates public safety problems and that to me is the basis for the need for the first part of this motion.

There are enough people in this world who don’t believe that they are going to cause an accident or have an accident or create a situation where either they are injured or they’re going to injure or kill somebody else who happens to be on the road. Again, I liken it to drunk driving. It took an awfully long time for people to realize that driving drunk was a public safety problem and it took us a really long time to get to the point where people now actually do believe it and it would not have happened, in my belief, if it was just a public awareness campaign. It took the legislation, it took the penalties that were applied for people to wake up and smell the coffee, answer their phone, so to speak.

I was going to thank my colleague Mr. Menicoche for his suggestion to have a policy for GNWT employees not to use their cell phones, but apparently there’s one in place, unbeknownst I think to most of the people on this side of the House. So obviously our Minister McLeod needs to do a little more work in terms of getting that particular knowledge out there. So, again, a knowledge campaign does not do as much as penalties do.

It’s been stated that hand-held devices can include two-way radios, et cetera, et cetera and I have to disagree with that definition. We don’t even know what a definition of hand-held devices is yet. You know, if we ever enacted this amendment to the legislation, that’s one of the things that has to be dealt with and I credit the Department of Transportation for saying that’s one of the things they have to look at.

Something that I didn’t mention earlier, but that is very evident and I was kind of hoping there would be some of them here, but the local chapter of Students Against Drinking and Driving -- Drinking and Distracted Driving I believe they call themselves now -- were going to be here to show a little support. Their teacher/chaperone told me they also call themselves Students Against Destructive Drivers, which I thought was an interesting definition.

I have to comment on the statements that this is an issue that only applies to a certain part of the Territory. I’m going to avoid using the name of our city. This is an issue that applies to the safety of all NWT residents. I would encourage my colleagues

to think beyond their own riding, to think about all of the residents in the NWT, whether or not this is going to be good for all of the residents in the NWT, not just those that happen to live in your riding or in your home community.

I would like to thank Mr. Hawkins for seconding the motion. I would like to just state, in conclusion, there is an increasing number of accidents that have resulted from people using cell phones and hand-held devices. It is increasing in this community. It is increasing across the Territory. It is increasing across Canada and the world and it is something which we have to do something about.

It is also sort of suggested that this is an imposition on our own individual rights, our rights as a person to do what we want within the safety of our car or perhaps the not safe car. I guess I have to ask whether or not our individual rights trump the safety of ourselves and the general public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is on the floor. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry. I wish to ask for a recorded vote.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member is requesting a recorded vote. All those in favour of the motion, please stand.

All those opposed to the motion, please stand.

All those abstaining from the motion, please stand.

The results of the recorded vote: all those in favour, five; opposed, five; abstaining, seven. I will declare the motion defeated

---Defeated

Item 18, first reading of bills. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Bill 6 has had first reading.

---Carried

The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Summary Conviction Procedures Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Bill 7 has had first reading.

---Carried

Item 19, second reading of bills. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Boot Lake, that Bill 6, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2010-2011, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make infrastructure expenditures for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Bill 6 has had second reading and stands referred to a committee.

---Carried

Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Committee Report 1-16(4), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Annual Reports; Committee Report 2-16(4),

Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the Auditor General on Contracting for Goods and Services in the Northwest Territories; and Committee Report 4-16(4), Report on the Review of the 2007-2008 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner, with Mr. Krutko in the chair.

I call the Committee of the Whole to order. We have three items: Committee Report 1-16(4), Report on the Review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Annual Reports; Committee Report 2-16(4), Report on the Review of the Auditor General on Contracting for Goods and Services in the Northwest Territories; and Committee Report 4-16(4), Report on the Review of the 2007-2008 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The wish of the committee is to deal with the committee reports in the order they appear on the Order Paper and proceed as far as we can before having to recognize the clock. Thank you.

Is committee agreed?

Okay. We will be dealing with Committee Report 1-16(4), Report on the Review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Annual Reports. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, you may recall that the Standing Committee on Government Operations tabled Committee Report 1-16(4), Report on the Review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Annual Reports, on October 22, 2009. The report was received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. The report contains several recommendations.

Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories establish policies on routine and active disclosure of public records following best practices in other parts of Canada; and further, in situations where information is withheld, a full explanation of the rationale for the decision should be provided as a matter of course.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.