Thank you. Mr. Testart.

So, if industry filed an objection, let's say there was a notice to be made public, what would be the process there? Would the Minister work with industry to prevent the disclosure of that information, or would the Minister just insist that disclosure take place? Thank you.

Thank you. That was a hypothetical, and those are not the kind of questions that we pose here, but, if the Minister cares to respond, I will let him. Minister. The Minister has indicated he does not care to respond. Mr. Testart.

Thank you. You know, I am not trying to frustrate process here, Mr. Chair. We are trying to get clear answers, and what we heard was rationales referencing other parts of the bill that do not really relate to the point the Member raised, so, you know it's going to be a long night if we continue along this road. These are important questions that have not been satisfactorily answered. Nothing more, thank you.

Thank you. I think we are in for a long night regardless. Clause 7. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that clause 7 of Bill 34 be amended by adding the following after paragraph (3)(r):

"(r.1) any notices of intended work filed under subsection 42(1) and any waivers made under subsection 42(4); " Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. It is being distributed. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am kind of in this awkward situation where I wanted to get some clarification about what the intent of the registry was and so on and why the list of intended work, at least in the Minister's and the Minister's staff's view, could not be put on the registry. This motion would require that it be put on the public registry, subject to the confidentiality requirements in the act. There are confidentiality requirements even in this section of the bill. There are other provisions further down in part 8 of the bill. I have heard concerns around that industry might be worried about what's in here, but the Minister already has the authority to define through regulation what this notice of intended work is going to look like, so the Minister already has that authority.

The Minister has an obligation to protect confidentiality in other parts of the bill. If this bill is about doing some of the things that the Minister talked about in his opening remarks, about encouraging good relationships and transparency, all of those good things, why shouldn't people know in general terms what's happening in their back yard? I believe that Indigenous governments should be entitled to that information, but I do not see where the problem is in sharing that information more broadly. Maybe even it's different kinds of information. The Minister could define that through regulations. This is what happens now in places like Ontario and Quebec, so why can't we get with it and do the same things here? You know, all of this is going to be at the discretion of the Minister, anyways, because the Minister is going to have the authority to define what this notice of intended work is going to be in regulations, so I think this is perfectly reasonable.

I haven't heard any reason why this can't be done. I am sorry we had to walk everybody through this, but I think people get a small taste of some of the frustration the committee had in trying to work with the Minister and his staff on what we felt were some reasonable things to bring us up to best practices in other parts of Canada, so I don't see what the problem is in doing this. All of this is going to be up to the Minister's discretion at any event in the future, so I hope that Members would support this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So a key component of this motion is how it relates to the parent clause, and, to quote from that, there is an exception section that says nothing in this act requires a document to be included in the registry under subsection 3 that is or may be prohibited from disclosure by any other act of the Northwest Territories or Canada or contains information that is provided implicitly, explicitly, in confidence to a person or body exercising powers, performing duties or functions in this act.

So that means, if a third party, including a business interest, came forward and said, "This is confidential information," that it could not be disclosed. You know, the rationale I would have liked to hear is: look, if we put this in the public registry, because everything is so confidential, there is no way we can get it in there, so why put it in there, because it's all going to be blocked by confidentiality concerns anyway? That is something that would be clear to me. Well, don't do it, then, because we are creating false expectations as a result. So the real crux of this is: why can't this be done? Again, we have a Minister who is willing to be the first in Canada to put forward legislated socio-economic agreements even after the objections of industry, you know, the continuing objections of industry, over a lack of clarity. However, this we have to hold fire on; this can't be done because of objections from industry. If we can do part 5, we can do this, and Members should support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier on at the opening remarks of the Minister, I spoke about Indigenous governments and industry, and this is just a side door. You know, if the Members are concerned about or anybody in the general public is concerned or interested people, they can approach the Indigenous organization where if it's on their lands or industry or the government, I think this is just, I think this would scare away industry, and also I do not think this would be approved by Indigenous governments, so I am not going to approve this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. I will allow the mover to close debate. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't have anything to add other than I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you. The Member has requested a recorded vote. All those in favour, please rise.

All those opposed, please rise.

All those abstaining, please rise.

The results of the recorded vote are: four in favour, 12 opposed, one abstention. The motion is defeated.

---Defeated

To clause 7, does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Mr. O'Reilly.