Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate how this bill was designed and the problem it is trying to solve. I think it is important that we offer low-cost funeral services for Northerners, but there are some technical questions I would like to ask the honourable Member who is sponsoring this bill.

In the current version of the Public Health Act, it would appear that there is authority to regulate funeral services and the disposal of human bodies. Now, this bill corrects that by being explicit and brings more clarity to the act of cremations, but what is missing from this bill seems to be that it creates exclusivity for funeral planners in performing cremations and offering crematoria. With this exclusivity should come some sort of duty, a duty to comply with the regulatory system, a duty to be qualified, a duty to be trained, a duty to obtain a permit, a duty to maintain records, and a duty to maintain sanitation.

If you look at what is comparable in other Canadian jurisdictions, you will find, in the Province of Alberta, the Funeral Services Act; in the Province of British Columbia, the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act; in Manitoba, the Pre-Arranged Funeral Services Act and the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Act; in New Brunswick, the Pre-Arranged Funeral Services Act; in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Embalmers and Funeral Directors Act. As you can see, across the gamut, there are explicit ways to regulate the profession and to create that duty.

Now, I acknowledge there may be other means and secondary sources for imposing standards and for exercising control on the providers of funeral services and on funeral planners in the Northwest Territories. However, if the Member would like to speak to that and provide some clarity on what those secondary sources and existing regulatory measures are that can be brought towards this, I would be more comfortable supporting this bill with that clarification. Thank you, Mr. Chair.