Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In December 2012 the government provided the Standing Committee on Government Operations a discussion paper on the establishment of an ombudsman office. The discussion paper summarized the various Northwest Territories appeal bodies and statutory appeal officers already created through 35 individual pieces of territorial legislation. These statutory processes already provide the public with opportunities to register complaints, request investigation, or appeal questions of administrative fairness.

In addition to existing legislation, our small population and consensus style of government means that the Northwest Territories residents also have a level of immediate access to capable, hardworking MLAs that is not always available to citizens in larger jurisdictions with partisan governments. The paper also noted that a proposal to establish a new statutory office with a reporting relationship not to government but to the Legislative Assembly is a proposal best considered by Caucus as a whole. The paper concluded that it was difficult to rationalize the need for an independent parliamentary ombudsman at this time.

More recently, the Standing Committee on Government Operations report on Establishing an Office of the Ombudsman for the Northwest Territories provided cost estimates for an ombudsman office at between $400,000 to $600,000 per year.

As this is a recommendation to Cabinet, Cabinet will abstain from the vote.