Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that long explanation of what is going on. The reality, of course, is that our government continues to spend more on a visitors centre in Dawson, Yukon, than we do here in Yellowknife, which is the capital.

The Minister trotted out some great numbers of the increases in visitation at the visitors centre in the basement of city hall. As the Minister well knows, I helped drag him through the visitors centre when we were coming back from lunch one day. I think that the city is doing a good job with what they have, but they clearly don't have enough. What is the Minister doing to set this up for the next Assembly so that we actually can make a proper investment in promoting tourism here in Yellowknife, given the huge growth in this sector that the Minister himself just talked about? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I am not even going to go to my notes first here. I am going to address some of the comments that the Member has made. I am the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I represent all residents in the Northwest Territories, not just the City of Yellowknife and not just the tourists coming to the City of Yellowknife.

What I don't like about the comments that the Member made is that it is kind of "us versus them," the Beau-Del region versus Yellowknife, because of the money that we have spent in Whitehorse. We are trying to address and diversify our economy across all regions of the Northwest Territories.

The City of Yellowknife has clearly been the biggest benefactor of tourism in the Northwest Territories, and I dare any Member to stand up in this House and contradict me on that. That is not the case. As I have said before in this House, we are doing almost too good of a job because we are a victim of our own success, but this is what we are going to do forward, and that was what the Member's question was.

Under Tourism's 2020 strategy, we will invest more than $1.5 million this year in the development and delivery of funding and programming to strengthen our tourism products and capacity of our tourism operators. The growth of tourism, particularly through the life of this government, confirms that our approach of supporting and growing this sector of our economy is working. That was clear from the numbers that I said in the House yesterday.

As Members may be aware, we are about to begin the process of evaluation of our current 2020 strategy in the interest of developing a follow-up strategy and building on the success that we have seen. Our process will include engagement with tourism stakeholders and operators and will help us to identify the projects and priorities, not just for Yellowknife, but for the full territory. I look forward to having the Member's contributions to this process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. With that, time for oral questions has expired. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to the Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 100(4) and to have Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29: An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The Member is requesting unanimous consent to waive Rule 100(4) to have Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29: An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act moved to Committee of the Whole.

---Unanimous consent granted

Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29: An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act has been moved to Committee of the Whole. Reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled "2017/2018 Annual Report - Northwest Territories Agricultural Products Marketing Council"; "NWT Oil and Gas Annual Report 2018"; and "Annual Report 2018-2019 NWT Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Health and Social Services Northwest Territories Help Directory 2019."

Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, "2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework 2019-2023 Action Plan." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Member for Kam Lake.

Masi. Notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, I will move that Bill 57: An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act; Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act; Committee Report 15-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 30: An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act; Minister's Statement 151-18(3), New Federal Infrastructure Agreement; Minister's Statement 158-18(3), Developments in Early Childhood Programs and Services, with Member for Hay River North in the Chair.

I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee would like to consider Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29: An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will consider the three documents after a brief recess. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Thank you for your patience, committee. I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to first consider Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29, an Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I will go to the chair of the committee for opening remarks. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak to the committee's report. I am not going to speak at length, as we read the full contents of the report into the record yesterday, and I believe that that took approximately an hour and a half, because it is, to my understanding, the third-longest report that has been produced by a committee, in the history of this sitting, at least.

It shows the tremendous amount of work that the committee did, putting together their review of Bill 29. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the very hard work that staff, both committee staff and the staff of the Department of Justice, did, collaborating on a bill that addressed the public concerns that the committee heard, addressed the concerns that Members brought forward over the course of the review, and worked collaboratively to ensure that we have world-class access and privacy legislation.

I think that I can safely say that this is one of the most progressive access and privacy regimes currently in the country, and I think that we should all look towards this as fulfilling a very important part of this government's commitment to transparency and openness as a government in Canada. It is a new generation and a new age of technology, and we have seen a number of very high-profile privacy issues over the life of this government. This legislation is going to ensure that privacy rights and protections are in place for our citizens and that the government can continue to function where its own privacy is needed, but that is tempered by the public's right to know and the high standards of transparency that we have set as a society and as a government. Thank you.