Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories we have a Health Information Act that dictates how we protect an individual's privacy and share information with individuals involved in a circle of care, and there's certainly information that may not need to be sent out to a southern practitioner. It's usually done through the protocols that have been established that allows the information that's relevant to the particular situation that someone's going down for a doctor's appointment, so not necessarily everything would have to be sent.

In the Northwest Territories we have electronic medical records that allows practitioners to be involved in the circle of care, regardless of what community they live in, can have access to the files. Some of these things are still rolling out. We're still streamlining and making sure everything works perfectly, but we are moving forward with folks on respecting our residents and ensuring their information is kept private and confidential where appropriate.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources what the intention is for providing whistleblower protection for our public servants. Previously, the department has committed to both standalone legislation and to updating the Public Service Act to contain this provision. So what is the intention? Are we going forward with a standalone Whistleblower Protection Act, or are we simply making changes to the Public Service Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Human Resources.

That legislation will be part of the Public Service Act.

Thank you to the Minister for clarifying. When can honourable Members expect to see a legislative proposal or some work on that? I, of course, assume that will go to committee, but when can we start to see progress on that? I think it's very important that we allow our public servants to feel protected when they see concerns, and also that they can speak their minds to elected officials whenever they have a concern.

It's a massive piece of legislation, and we can expect to see that, the LP, during the third quarter of the 18th Assembly.

Thank you. Just for clarification, was the Minister referring to the third quarter or the third year of the Legislative Assembly?

It's the same thing. Yes.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, and thank you for the clarification. Given that this is a massive piece of legislation and this is a really important step in the transparency commitments this government has made, is there any way to split this work out and move it ahead on its own?

I'm concerned that, if there is a legislative delay, sometimes these very large bills take a lot of time from our government and are delayed until future Assemblies. So is there a way to expedite this process by moving the whistleblower protections out into their own legislation, and is the Minister willing to -- sorry, that's two questions, so I'll just go with that. Thank you.

As far as splitting it out, the legislation is all connected. So we can do it quickly or we can do it right, and we want to make sure that we do this right. We will come forward to committee with an LP probably by about the third year of this Assembly, and they will have an opportunity to review it and we'll go forward from there.

If the Member is concerned about the safe disclosure, my understanding is there is a Safe Disclosure Policy that was done, I think, in concern with the UNW, so that is there. So we'll continue to work on the LP, and when we have it ready to go then we will have a conversation with committee and seek their input as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make full use of question period today on our last day. I have some questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. A letter was tabled by the honourable Member for Frame Lake from the City of Yellowknife that indicated that the department is now working with the City of Yellowknife on forming a work plan for making the necessary legislative amendments to various pieces of legislation. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs update honourable Members on the progress made to date and when that working group or that work plan will be completed?

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last evening, ironically, I just met with the NWT Association of Communities and they also had some concerns regarding the recommendations from the City of Yellowknife, so I have agreed to also work with them. So at this moment we are just in the process of pulling together a meeting so that all communities' municipal governments have a say in where we're going with the recommendations from the City of Yellowknife. Thank you.

When will this meeting occur?

Since the meeting that we had last night was my first meeting with the NWT Association of Communities, we never actually set a date. We did agree that we would meet, and so as soon as I know more when the date is confirmed, I will let the honourable Member know.

Has the City of Yellowknife, who was previously told work plans are being developed, they would be full partners in this work, have they been informed the plan has changed or are they still expecting the department to come back and work with the City on these amendments?

Unfortunately, the mayor for the City of Yellowknife was not at the meeting last night. We are still committed to working with the City of Yellowknife; however, we have an obligation whenever we make any legislative changes that we actually consult with all of the concerned parties, all of the municipal governments concerns. So we will abide by that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know it's important to consult with our stakeholders, but it's also important to make decisions here in this House, and I know a number of honourable Members who have raised this concern that we want to see these amendments roll forward. So is this more delay from the department, or are we still committed to getting these changes done before the end of our term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do recognize that the Members have issues that they want to ensure that I push through during this Legislative Assembly, but the Members have also asked for transparency and accountability. So within that, in trying to honour the wishes around transparency and accountability, we need to do due diligence, and that does mean consulting with all stakeholders when any major legislative changes are to be made.

Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.