Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank the committee for letting me sit in on some of the deliberations they had in Yellowknife around Bill 45, and I want to thank the committee. I think this is a clear example of how consensus government can and should work.
I know that at one point there were actually almost no, or virtually no, written submissions that the committee had received, and I want to recognize the work of my colleague the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre in seeking out some expert reviews of the bill. She certainly went the extra distance, and that's the kind of job that we should all be doing here as MLAs to ensure that legislation gets a thorough review and that it reflects best practices.
As I understand it, this is the first time the Corrections Act has ever actually gone through a comprehensive review. The original bill, I think, as others have said, was really focused largely on administrative matters. Certainly, through the committee's work, and I think with the advice of some outside experts, the focus is much more on inmates, a more balanced approach, their rights and interests. There was a lot of experience that was gained from what happened in Nunavut in the recent review of their legislation, as well. I think it much better incorporates the concepts of reconciliation and provides some oversight.
It also deals with the devastating effects of solitary confinement which Canada is not having a very good track record on. There are some very good changes that have been made to this bill, and as I understand it, there were 32 motions raised by committee, and all of them were concurred with by the Minister. That's an amazing track record, quite frankly, and I wish that all of our standing committees had received that level of collaboration and cooperation. Unfortunately, that is not the case, but here's an example, I think, of how consensus government could be made to work. It's not about getting your way. It's about making sure that we can work together and do things in the best interests of all of our residents. Unfortunately, I don't think that's been the experience with a number of the other bills that we've dealt with, but I do, again, want to thank the committee for their very hard work, and work of the Minister and his staff.
I did actually get to sit in on one meeting where the deputy minister and a couple of other staff people were there. The attitude that they took was, if the committee had a concern or an issue, let's see how we can fix this. It was a "can do" approach, and unfortunately, that kind of approach was not brought to the table in a number of the other bills that I've sat in on, but here's a model of how it can and should be done in the future. I once again want to commend the work of the standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.