Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to express my appreciation for the work that went into the bill by our staff. There is a lot of research that went into this, as well. These are very important positions that are set up through our legislation, and in many cases, the people who are appointed have a very specialized skill set. They often have to deal with adjudicating different kinds of interests or dealing with complaints, investigations, and so on, and they are often based on certain rights that are set out in legislation. These are very important pieces of legislation, very important offices that we set up that report to us, but really perform a very important public function for people here in the Northwest Territories. I think we want to make sure that we get this right, and I do support the principle of consistency in trying to make sure that all of these officers receive fair compensation, fair benefits for the hard work that they do.

Madam Chair, there is one issue that I do want to speak about in general, though. It's a very kind of curious bill that just ends up in Committee of the Whole without having gone through any kind of public review, and I want to assure the members of the public that there was a lot of research and work that went in behind the scenes to prepare this bill. It is kind of odd that it just ends up in Committee of the Whole without any opportunity for public comment or review. I do think that is something that we need to turn our minds to collectively in the future about bills like this that just come into Committee of the Whole and perhaps try to find some ways to allow for some level of public engagement.

However, I don't want to hold this bill up in any way. It's important. We have some deadlines in terms of looming appointments to fill some of these positions, Madam Chair, so I do support the bill moving forward. Thanks, Madam Chair.