Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Governance

As noted earlier, the government relies on the Government of Canada for about 70 per cent of its annual revenue. This amounted to $1.447 billion in 2015-16. The relationship between the GNWT and Canada is vitally important to the growth and prosperity of the NWT. The GNWT's intergovernmental relations office in the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs is headed by the Premier. This office coordinates the GNWT's participation in a number of federal, provincial, and territorial intergovernmental meetings and forums, such as those of the First Ministers, Canada's Premiers Council of the Federation, the Western Premiers' Conference, Northern Premiers' Forum, and Arctic Council, along with a great number of bilateral meetings with provincial and territorial Premiers. This work is guided by the GNWT's federal engagement strategy.

A number of mandate commitments are rooted in the federal engagement strategy; for example, the commitment to work with the Government of Canada to increase the federal northern residents deduction and index it to inflation, item 3.5.1, increase investment in Nutrition North, item 3.5.6, and pursue more federal funding for the enhancement of community government infrastructure, item 5.4.4. The full extent of the GNWT's engagement with the federal government would be more evident if progress was better reported publicly, as this work is often done behind the scenes with little engagement of Regular Members.

With respect to the GNWT's relationship with Aboriginal governments in the NWT, the committee is concerned that work is not proceeding quickly enough to conclude a memorandum of understanding with each Aboriginal government that wishes to be a party to one. The committee also questions what real impact these intergovernmental agreements have at the ground level. We encourage Cabinet to seek input from Regular Members and consider ways to report on progress arising from these agreements and incorporate that into its open government initiative. The committee also looks forward to progress arising from the reports of the Ministerial Special Representatives to Premier McLeod and federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett. The committee notes that government negotiators made revised offers to the Northwest Territory Metis Nation on May 24, 2017 and the Akaitcho Dene First Nations on May 25, 2017. The committee respects the confidentiality of this process and, if and when the offers are made public, looks forward to assessing if Premier McLeod has met his commitment to "innovative, flexible approaches that will result in fair and equitable agreements" with Aboriginal governments. However, while a working group of Cabinet and Regular Members was established, it has accomplished little. Members' input was not sought prior to the recent offers to Aboriginal governments.

The relationship between Cabinet and standing committees could be improved with greater partnership and emphasis on implementing our goals. For example, the committee is pleased with the recent legislative proposal for an NWT ombudsman, an initiative which Regular Members particularly wanted included in the mandate and which builds on years of work. Finally, the relationship between the GNWT and the municipal and designated-authority communities across the NWT should not be overlooked. The committee echoes the Auditor General of Canada's advice to improve the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs' support for communities. The department is also responsible for administering important statutes that impact municipal governance, such as the Civil Emergency Measures Act; the Cities, Towns and Villages Act; and the Fire Prevention Act. The committee urges attention to the department's legislative agenda to make much-needed improvements to this legislation within the 18th Assembly.

The government is to be congratulated for achieving gender parity in its appointments to boards and agencies and for supporting workshops to help women get into politics. The same cannot be said for the promised communications campaign to increase women's participation in politics. The committee has seen no evidence of progress in this area. Mr. Speaker, I will now turn this over to the Member for Kam Lake.