Thank you, committee. Moving on to activity 3, directorate, pages 338 to 341. Municipal and Community Affairs, directorate. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is the part of the department that is responsible for, as it says here, overall direction and planning. This is a big department, in that they have a whole bunch of legislative responsibilities that include things like consumer protection and a number of other areas that I just can't put my fingers on, but legislation coming out the other end hasn't been very quick. I know the previous Minister had talked about sort of a legislative priority-setting exercise to look at the big backlog of requirements in terms of legislative change. I haven't seen anything happening over the last several months, that I'm aware of. Is this something that's still going on within the department to help set legislative priorities? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do have a list of legislation through the department. Obviously, we want to prioritize them. We have one before standing committee right now, and it's something that I will continue to work on. As I mentioned, the department, we only have so many resources to do the work that we can. There is a list of legislation that needs to be done, and we are working on it. When we did get the mandates from the 18^th Legislative Assembly, it did take away some of our resources to focus on getting this mandate done. At the same time, as you heard earlier, we are continuing to work with municipalities on addressing some of the issues there. It is a challenge to get all this done, but I just wanted to inform the Member that we do have a list of legislation that will need to get done, and we're doing the best that we can in that area. I think 911 is one of the areas that we are focusing on, and I appreciate the committee for working with us on that. I'm looking forward to getting that one passed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I recognize the good work that the department has done in terms of implementing, or beginning to implement, 911, and I commend them for that, but there is a number of other things here; the Fire Prevention Act, Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, Home Ownership Property Tax Rebate Act, Consumer Protection Act, further changes to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. The Minister knows the backlog better than I. Does the department have a process for setting priorities amongst those? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, I know that there are a lot of acts within this department that need to be addressed. I think 911 is going to be one that is going to be very successful, and one that we're going to monitor and evaluate as it proceeds. Yes, we do have a plan, based on our resources, that we can address some of these legislation priorities. We will deal with them the best that we can. I know, during business plans, we did have questions whether or not our department was resourced well enough to address some of these issues, and as I just previously mentioned, we're doing the best that we can with the resources that we have.

I know there are some concerns. I know we're going into a new election this fall. We do have a transition committee and, if there is any legislation that Members would like to see moved forward into the next government, I encourage them to bring them forward. We only have about seven months until the writ is dropped, and I know some of our committees have a lot of bills on their plate at the moment. We do have a plan. We're working on it. We're doing the best that we can with the resources that we have. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister share that plan with standing committee? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we are working on this legislation, once we have a document done, we will share it with committee. We will make sure that it is shared before the transition documents are completed so that the next government that comes in knows what legislation needed to be completed within our department. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I want to thank the Minister for that commitment. I look forward to seeing the priorities that the department has set for legislative change. That will be a very helpful and interesting document to look at for transition planning. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is all I have.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have one comment, and then one question in this area here.

First of all, I would like to commend the department for making progress on long-overdue legislation updates and that you have completed Bill 1, the Western Canada Lottery Act; Bill 8, Emergency Management Act; Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act; and you are now close to doing 911. I am very happy with that. It has been long overdue, and I give kudos to the department and the staff for doing a great job on that there.

Departmental consultations with partners in the development of legislation is important, but the department should bear in mind that the proposed legislation is also consulted on by the standing committee. Has the department given any consideration to what it should be doing to assist community governments to understand their responsibilities under the amended ATIP act? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned previously, I have met with the executive for NWTAC. That was an agenda item that we had discussed. I know it is a bill that is under the Department of Justice. I also appreciate the Member's comments about the bills that we have passed. For the Department of MACA, this is the most bills that have ever been passed during one term of government. We are continuing to work on that plan, which we will share with Members before the end of this legislation.

Yes, we have been meeting with our stakeholders. I would say that the City of Yellowknife has probably the biggest concern with ATIP moving forward, and we have got to make sure that they have the proper training and that they have the proper resources to do ATIP. Moving forward, those are the discussions that we have had. We will see how that applies. Maybe for a little bit further detail on the work that has been done, through you, Mr. Chair, I will go to my deputy minister. Thank you.

Ms. Young.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you. Minister.