Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the honourable Members on the excellent work done in the interim report on the review of Standing Committee of Rules and Procedures on public engagement and transparency, and also the work done on revising the guiding principles and process conventions for consensus government. This attempt to bridge the ever-growing democratic deficit is a real achievement by the 18th Assembly, and symbolizes that we are truly attempting to evolve our public engagement into 21st century standards, which admittedly, took a little longer than other jurisdictions, but not from the lack of effort of this Assembly.
Now, Mr. Speaker, it's time for us to continue this good work while also keeping to this mandate commitment I and other honourable Members of this House are very passionate about, and that's transparency. The primary focus of our mandate to transparency is that we improve access to information and the protection of privacy by developing and proposing amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Now, if we are looking for direction, we need look no further than the recently released 2015-2016 Annual Report by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the upcoming year will be the 20th anniversary of our act coming into force in the Northwest Territories, and as the Commissioner has suggested, the best way to celebrate this landmark will be a new and updated act. Most Canadian jurisdictions are ahead of the ball game on this, and particular praise goes to Newfoundland and Labrador's act which came into effect in 2015. It is being hailed as one of the most innovative and progressive pieces of access and privacy legislation, not only in this country, but across the globe. The act narrows exceptions while shortening timelines, and also provides more powers to the provincial Ombudsman.
Using this example, along with this government's commitment to updating our own act and developing an NWT Office of the Ombudsman, we have a real opportunity to create perhaps the most transparent access to information and protection of privacy regime in the world. This Assembly and its government has made great steps in transparency so far in this term, such as our nomination period for the premiership, recorded votes on legislation and appropriation bills which keeps Members of this House accountable to its constituents and literally makes us stand up for what we believe in. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted