This is page numbers 1347 - 1388 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

[Microphone turned off] ...I would like to bring witnesses in the Chamber. Should I do that before or after my opening remarks?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

After you introduce, just introduce the bill first.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to introduce Bill 11, Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act. I have opening remarks if that will please the committee.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Yes.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. An analysis of the legislation governing statutory officers in the Northwest Territories was done and identified a number of areas of inconsistency that could be remedied through statutory amendments we see here today.

These amendments allow the Legislative Assembly to address a number of inconsistencies among them the terms governing its statutory officers. While some differences among these terms are both expected and desirable, some officers currently lack benefits and protections available to others, without obvious reason.

Bill 11 will amend eight statues related to officers of the Legislative Assembly:

  • Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act;
  • Elections and Plebiscites Act;
  • Human Rights Act;
  • Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act;
  • Official Languages Act;
  • Ombud Act;
  • Public Service Act; and
  • Health Information Act.

The targeted revisions to existing legislation governing statutory officers will bring greater consistency to the specific terms and is required. Throughout Bill 11, these include:

  1. Term of appointment: this will change the term of appointment for all statutory officers to four-year terms.
  2. Resignation, suspension, or removal from office: these provisions allow the speaker, on the recommendation of the board of management, to suspend the statutory officer with or without pay when the Legislative Assembly is not sitting.
  3. There will be changes to remuneration and benefits, to standardize the pay and benefits to ensure consistency across all full-time statutory officers.
  4. We will standardize the travel and expenses, such that statutory officers would be entitled to reimbursement of expenses incurred for travel to meetings, training, or official business, consistent with the types of rates set out in the Government of the Northwest Territories employee duty travel policy.
  5. We will make amendments to clarify the role of other employment. Given the roles as independent officers and the potential conflict with holding a position within the public service, these provisions clarify that they may hold other employment, with prior approval, but not a position within the Government of the Northwest Territories.
  6. Lastly, we will make amendments to the Oath of Office, to provide amended wording to align with other statues, specifying the oath can be taken by the Speaker or the Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes my opening remarks. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with the consideration of this bill.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yes, Madam Chair. I would like to bring Kim Wickens, the deputy clerk, Members and Precinct Services, and Mikaela Robertson, the legislative drafter for this legislation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Can the Member just reintroduce the witnesses, please? I know Ms. Wickens, but the other witness?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Kim Wickens, the deputy clerk, Members and Precinct Services, and Mikaela Robertson, the legislative counsel, just joined us in the Chamber.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 11. Member for Frame Lake.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

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.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Member for Yellowknife North, do you have any response?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Member for his comment. Yes, I believe we can have a conversation following about how to make sure that legislation that we have to pass quickly and proceed directly to Committee of the Whole still has some form of public engagement. I do note that unanimous consent is required for that step so that, if any Member did not want to move a bill into Committee of the Whole, we would not have, but I take the Member's point. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Member for Frame Lake, did you have any further comments? Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members are there any more general comments on Bill 11? Does committee agree that there are no further general comments?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1. Are there any comments? Member for Frame Lake.

Committee Motion 37-19(2): Bill 11: Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act - Deletion of subclause 1(4) and (5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

October 21st, 2020

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'd like to move an amendment to the bill. I move that Bill 11 be amended by deleting subclauses 1(4) and (5). Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. I would like to have a quick chance to explain what this is all about. This part of the bill sets the mandated terms of employment, so to speak, for the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner moving forward. I want to start by saying that this bill is not going to change the current terms of employment for any of our statutory officers. That is always the principle. You don't want to change someone's terms of employment while they are in a job without their consent and agreement and so on, so that is not what this is about. This is about moving forward once appointments are completed, when we fill those positions again.

We did receive, as MLAs, some communications from the Access to Information and Privacy Commissioner about the term of office. There is sort of a national, I'm not going to use the word "standard," but an approach where the people in those positions in most of the other provinces and territories serve for at least five years, so there was a request from the Commissioner to consider changing the term as set out in the bill from four to five years. I know this is a bit strange, but I am going to move that we delete the part of the bill that would change the term, so that this Commissioner would remain in office for five years. Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the initial purpose of this legislation was to standardize all of our appointments to four years. I recognize that some of the officers reached out and expressed a desire that five years is the standard. I will point out that five years does sometimes mean that the appointments will fall on an election year, which has made it difficult in the past. The legislation does allow appointments to continue up to six months after their expiration, so there is a possibility we can make those appointments. Ultimately, although I am introducing the bill, I don't have a strong opinion on four or five years. I believe these officers do great work. They are arm's length, and if they have expressed four or five years, I will simply abstain from the Member's motion. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.