Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today there was a public hearing with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and it brought to my mind the long-required need to bring about new access to information and privacy protection legislation in this building. We are still working off of the original legislation that came about in 1996. A lot has changed since then. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice: what progress is being made on updating ATIP legislation? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. We are working on updating the ATIP information, and certainly it is important. There were many suggestions made as to how it could be improved, and we are dedicated to improving that piece of legislation. Thank you.

Does the Minister have any timelines that he can inform the House of when this legislation is anticipated to come forward?

Yes. We are engaging and have been engaging with various communities and governments with respect to this legislation, and I hope to be bringing forward legislation this year.

I suppose it is too much to ask for specificity on when the Minister will bring it forward, but I want to ask about another subject. Related to this work is Access by Design or Privacy by Design. Is the Minister doing any work to ensure we are designing government projects and government legislation with Privacy by Design in mind? Has any work been undertaken on that aspect?

We are, of course, very cognizant of our responsibilities under ATIP and other privacy legislations, so I would hope that all legislation is looked at through that lens.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the Minister of Hope. He often hopes when we raise questions to him, but can the Minister commit to do more than hope and actually do some work to put a public policy lens? Like we do with gender-based analysis and like we do with Indigenous rights analysis, can he put a Privacy by Design lens on policy proposals? Let's narrow the focus, Mr. Speaker. Can he put a privacy lens on Cabinet submissions? Thank you.

I have not contemplated that to this point, but certainly would be willing to look into it. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is an ongoing issue with the shortfall in municipal funding that is provided through our funding formula to municipal governments of the Northwest Territories. The Minister has indicated that she is looking at fixing some of those. Can we get more details from the Minister on what our municipalities can expect moving forward on closing the gap in municipal funding? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the analysis was done of the shortfall of community governments a number of years ago, every single year, Cabinet has provided extra money towards that. We are hopeful that that will continue.

We are working at the moment with the NWT Association of Communities to finalize the plan, and at this point, we are not yet finished. Right now, what I can say is that every year there has been an increase, and I am hopeful that that will continue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That gap, when we started our term, was $32 million. How much has this government invested in closing that gap? I am looking for a dollar figure, Mr. Speaker.

For this last year, actually, the proposal within the budget is a proposed $1.2 million. I do not know the exact for every year. What I do know is that we have given increases for the operation and maintenance, and we have given increases for the water and sewer. We are working with the federal government for the capital and infrastructure monies that are needed, and we work closely with each community so that they can leverage their monies that they have to actually get the federal infrastructure dollars.

I will remind the Minister that this is the not the federal government's obligation. This is our own funding formula, and the money should be coming from this government, or that funding formula needs to change if this government cannot afford it. We need to figure this out, but if the Minister is right and we are spending $1.2 million, it is going to take 32 years to close this gap. If not a dollar amount, how much time has been dedicated to a plan? Do we have a five-year plan, a 10-year plan, a 20-year plan? How long is it going to take to close this gap?

I am well aware that this is not a federal government issue; this is a territorial issue. Like I said before, we are not finished the strategic plan. We are still working with the Association of Communities to deal with it. I would like to bring attention to, however, in my personal opinion, the territorial government is also underfunded, and that is a federal issue.

I empathize with all of the communities. I would love to have money that I could give to every community and every department. We all need money, but I think we are all well aware that the economy is not very good at this time, and we have to live within our means. We are trying to help community as best as possible, but we also do not have the means.

If the federal government would like to give us more money, then I would be more than willing to accept that funding so that we can not only help the communities but our territorial government departments that are in need also.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Making best use of limited financial resources, in the words of our august Finance Minister, I wonder if we can prioritize this as a mandate commitment. It is a requirement of our funding formula. MACA itself, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has done this analysis. When will this government meet its own requirements that it has established for itself to support our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are working diligently on trying to address it. I would like to remind everyone that we have, I believe, over 200 mandates that we are trying to address, and not very many of those mandates do not cost money. So if we are trying to address all of those hundreds of mandates, we need a lot more money than we actually have. So I am committed to try to help the communities. I think the communities understand that. We have provided increases with their operating and maintenance and their water and sewer every single year since that study was done; and as the economy turns, as we have the resources, we will support the communities. We care about our communities. They are our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. The Honourable Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, "Correspondence to Mary Simon Regarding Arctic Leadership Model." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Infrastructure.