Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce Bill: Western Canada Lottery Act.

The Western Canada Lottery program is managed and conducted by the Concern Canada Lottery Corporation on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Since 2009, the Sport and Recreation Council has had an agreement with the Western Canada Lottery Corporation and the Government of the Northwest Territories to conduct and manage the lottery within the Northwest Territories and to remit lottery proceeds to the Government of the Northwest Territories to be used for the purposes of sport and recreation within the territory.

In 2014, the Canada Revenue Agency provided an interpretation to the Department of Finance indicating that the proceeds of the lottery may be subject to taxation in its current format. A decision was therefore made to bring the operation of the lottery within the Government of the Northwest Territories as soon as possible.

Bill 1 achieves the goal of bringing lottery operations in-house and protecting them from possible taxation so that they remain available for programs in the Northwest Territories. The bill creates the Northwest Territories Lottery Commission within the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. The commission will be composed of Municipal and Community Affairs employees and will fulfill the role currently filled by the Sport and Recreation Council.

Together with the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, the commission will mark it and distribute Western Canada Lottery tickets and will regulate and control retailers of Western Canada Lottery tickets. The commission will also enter into agreement with the Government of Nunavut to conduct and manage the Western Canada Lottery within Nunavut. The commission will report to the Legislative Assembly as required under the planning and accountability framework.

The bill also creates the Physical Activity, Sport and Recreation Fund to handle the proceeds of the lottery. The fund is a special purchase fund the Financial Administration Act and will be held in an account forming part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The creation of a special purpose fund rather than a revolving fund will ensure that all lottery revenues remain available for sport and recreation and are not considered general revenue.

In order to account for fluctuating lottery revenues within a given year, the bill allows the Minister to take the fund into a deficit or a surplus position, ensuring that funding commitments can be met on a consistent and timely basis. Limits on any accumulating deficit and surplus will be set by the Financial Management Board. The Minister will table an annual report of the fund, which outline payments paid into the fund, amounts dispersed from the fund, and the balance of the fund.

The bill empowers the Minister to disperse money from the fund for the purposes set out in the bill, all related to the advancement of sport and recreation within the Northwest Territories and in accordance with any agreement with the Government of Nunavut.

Municipal and Community Affairs has consulted with the Department of Finance on the development of the bill and continues to work with the Department of Finance and the Department of Human Resources on the task of transitioning the operation of the lottery into government. Municipal and Community Affairs is also appreciative of the time that the standing committee on government operations took in reviewing the bill and proposing amendments.

Municipal and Community Affairs hopes to bring the bill into force in the summer of 2018. I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I will turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations which considered the bill for any opening comments that he may have. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no other opening comments besides the comments I made in the review committee's report that just occurred. I believe that we are ready to proceed with review of the bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister, do you have witnesses you wish to bring to the Chamber?

Yes, I do.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, you may join them at the witness table. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Eleanor Young. On my left is Ms. Christina Brownlee, who is legislative counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. I will open the floor to general comments on Bill 1: Western Canada Lottery Act as reprinted. Members must keep in mind that comments must remain in the scope of the bill. Do we have opening comments? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I don't want to prolong this, but the Minister did say in her opening remarks that she was prepared to answer any questions about this. I want to speak to the definitions of the bill. Not what's there, but what's not. There's no definition of "recreation." The Minister at committee had talked about a process for developing a definition in collaboration with a sports and recreation organizations for the word "recreation."

The committee has now reported on this issue as well and notes in its report on page 7 that there is a framework for Recreation Canada 2015, Pathways to Well-Being, Definition of Recreation. Has the Minister had a chance to consider this definition and has she reconsidered her approach to looking at this issue of defining recreation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I did have a chance to review the national definition of "recreation" and I agree with the national definition, but my issue is that it is pretty broad. The framework that goes on to define it a little bit more concise. What I committed to doing was to bring the definition to the five sports and recreation organizations. At that point, we will look at the national definition, decide if we will accept it as is, if we need to expand it, if we need to do more measurable outcomes within that. That process will continue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that from the Minister. Look, I agree that this national definition is a good starting point. I'd probably be happy even with this.

She's talked about how she's going to work with these sports and recreation organizations to talk to them about this definition of "recreation." Is the Minister prepared to include others in that process, more specifically, the arts community? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I said in committee that I would bring that to the five sports and recreation organizations. I will put it on the table when we meet with them if they want to open it up to a broader sector. It is important to recognize, as one of the MLAs stated, that this funding is really specifically, and has in the past been specifically, for children and youth within the Northwest Territories. The arts sector is bigger than that and actually tends to be lot more adult-focused.

I will commit to bringing it to this sector to the five organizations. We will discuss the option of opening it up further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that's consistent with what the Minister said at committee. Again, I would encourage her to expand the scope of those consultations to be more inclusive and include the arts community. Look, I support the use of these funds for, as one of my colleagues had talked about, youth-focused activities. You're probably going to have to face or deal with this question in terms of the first recommendation from the standing committee. I just want to go on record as encouraging the Minister to have a more inclusive approach in looking at this issue and defining recreation and the focus of how the funds will be used into the future.

I'm not suggesting that they be used for other purposes, but recreation is quite broad. The Minister has recognized that herself. I think that we would be better served by having a more inclusive approach on that, and I want to continue to encourage the Minister to do that. Thanks. That's all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything further? Seeing none, we will proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill. Committee, we will defer the bill number in title until after consideration of the clauses.

Please turn to page three of the bill, which can be found in your legislation binders. I will read out each clause. If committee agrees, please indicate. Clause 1.

Thank you, committee. Clause 2.

Thank you. Clause 3.

Thank you. Clause 4.