Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is almost a little bit of a part two to the one that we've just passed. This is going to give technical working groups a little bit more certainty. We are of the understanding that technical working groups are being utilized more often. They are being utilized right now as we speak to help draft other bits of legislation that are going to be coming forward in the 19^th Assembly. We've identified or believe that this is becoming a standard practice. That's a good thing. What this is going to do is it's going to let the IGOs and the co-drafters have, as I said, more certainty of when they're going to be called upon, and in that way, they can coordinate their internal resources and be able to contribute significantly when the co-drafting process takes place. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The intention of this motion, it's my understanding that Indigenous governments, their staff don't need or necessarily want to be engaged or involved in any change that's made to regulations or legislation, but why not sit down and have a discussion, work out when they would like to be engaged and involved around certain subject matters, types of changes that might be made and so on. I think the suggestion is a helpful one to sit down and work this kind of arrangement out so that it's in everybody's best interest. They know how they're going to work together in the future. Unfortunately, we don't have that in place now. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that when employing a technical working group, adequate time and resources are allocated for the technical working group to provide recommendations prior to the introduction of the legislation in the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. The motion is on the floor and has been distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is where I spoke a little bit earlier about how sometimes certain parties didn't feel that they were allocated the appropriate time. This is about giving them the necessary time so that they can contribute, and as well as giving them the appropriate resources. Essentially, the motion speaks for itself. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that when the Government of the Northwest Territories is preparing complex bills of significant public interest, the government should coordinate with the appropriate standing committee on the introduction of such bills to allow the public and standing committees to adequately consider the implications of each bill.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. The motion is on the floor and has been distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think, if anyone wasn't convinced that there wasn't too much legislation before the House, they should have been here last night at midnight. We've heard from observers who have said this is an unprecedented amount of legislation to be introduced so late in an Assembly. I can speak for the personal stress that it's given me, my family, and my friends. This is not healthy. We're not making good laws for our people. We're not making the best possible laws, because of the amount of work that we've had to accomplish in a very, very short period of time. I think this could have been avoided, and it could have been managed a lot better and timed and paced in a way that would have ensured we could better fulfill our duties as MLAs and served the public.

This is a suggestion, a recommendation, in looking at the legislative workload that it be done in a more collaborative fashion to look at the capacity of committees and so on.

We raised these issues about the legislative workload continually in the last half of our mandate with Cabinet. We would get these legislative initiatives listing what laws or bills were likely to come forward, and we continually raised this as an issue, particularly from this standing committee, Economic Development and Environment, about the back-end loading of all of the legislation. It really has resulted in, I think, less than what our citizens deserve. Next Assembly, please do it differently and do it better. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that standards should be developed for the production of plain language materials to assist committees and the public in the review of bills, including appropriate reading levels, timelines for distribution, and what role the sponsoring department has in promoting proposed legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. The motion is on the floor and has been distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

--Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.