Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following document entitled "Environment and Climate Change Canada Technical Paper on the Federal Carbon Pricing Backstop." Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 1st, 2017, I will move that Bill 28, Interpretation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 1, 2017, I will move that Bill 29, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 1st, 2017, I will move that Bill 30, Health Statutes Amendment Act (Cremation Services), be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

The motion is on the floor. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 27 has had its first reading. First reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Coroner's Act, be read for the second time. This bill amends the Coroner's Act to allow for the assembly of a jury panel from which an inquest jury may be selected, outline the procedure for selecting jurors from the jury panel, allow persons to be excused from jury service in certain circumstances, allow the Chief Coroner to create rules of procedure for inquests, and improve the clarity and readability of certain provisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.

Question has been called. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 24 has had its second reading and is now referred to committee. Second reading of bills. Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, be read for the second time. This bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act to adjust the definition of "tenant," provide authority to rental officers to correct minor errors in their orders and decisions, require that orders and decisions of rental officers be filed in accordance with the regulations, allow for regulations to establish methods for filing orders and decisions of rental officers, and address inconsistencies and improve the clarity and readability of certain provisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.

Question has been called. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 25 has had its second reading and is now referred to committee. Second reading of bills. Minister for Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, No. 2, be read for the second time. This bill amends the Revolving Funds Act to establish a revolving fund for the purpose of meeting the capital, operating, and maintenance requirements for providing marine transportation services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. First off, I would like to start by saying that in no way am I opposed to our government operating the marine transportation system, and I believe that we had to do it at the time. I do support us operating the system and continuing to supply our communities with fuel and other supplies as necessary.

What I am opposed to, though, is setting this up as a revolving fund. My objections, Mr. Speaker, really stem from two things. First off, by setting it up as a revolving fund, capital spending will be removed from the regular capital budgeting process, and I believe that this will remove our ability as Regular MLAs to have thorough oversight of capital expenditures. So, for that reason, I am opposed to the bill.

Secondly, the purpose of the bill as specified here is for the purpose of meeting the capital, operating, and maintenance requirements for providing marine transportation services for the movement of cargo on Great Slave Lake, Mackenzie River, and throughout the Arctic coastal region. What I believe that this bill has not spoken to, and we certainly raised in the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, is whether these funds could be used to pay for remediation of many of the contaminated sites from the previous operator that our government has now inherited. So by limiting the purpose of the revolving fund to these purposes alone, I don't see remediation of contaminated sites in here. I am not suggesting that that be a core purpose of the revolving fund but, if this operation were to generate excess profits of one sort or another, I don't understand why they could not be used to offset some of the remediation costs. Otherwise, they are going to come back to the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories.

We raised this at committee. There was no movement from the Minister on rejigging the purpose of the bill, and so I will continue to oppose the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the principle of the bill.

Question has been called. The motion has been carried.

---Carried

Minister of Infrastructure.