[Microphone turned off] ...Mr. Chair, I appreciate that. Committee would like to deal with Committee Report 6-19(2), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on Remote Sittings. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Does committee agree?

We'll take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

Okay. We will call the committee back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Committee Report 6-19(2), Report on Remote Sittings. I will go to the chair of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures for any opening comments. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do have a few comments here. In June, Members will recall that we passed changes to The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act that now provide us with the authority to conduct remote sittings of the House. The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures was tasked with providing some guidance to the Speaker on how and why the Assembly might sit remotely and when it would appropriate for a Member to take part remotely and what changes or amendments to rules might be needed to enable all of that. The committee reviewed emerging best practices from Parliament, provincial legislatures, and some international examples as this is an issue that has emerged, of course, in many countries around the world with the ongoing pandemic.

The committee discussed each question from the Speaker at length. We debated various scenarios to come up with a set of recommendations in this report that tried to find the right balance and make sure that Members' rights to participate in the Assembly are protected, with making sure that we can try to do all of that efficiently.

The committee also reviewed the orders of the day and proposed a number of changes in the event of a remote sitting. Of course, these recommendations will basically serve as drafting instructions for actual rule changes. Those rule changes will come back to the House in the new year for review and approval, and then we can start to meet remotely as the Assembly. There is also a provision for these changes to be reviewed after each remote sitting to see if we can make improvements.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members for their diligence and thoughtful review of our rules and procedures that led to the recommendations I am going to present shortly, and I look forward to hearing from all of our colleagues as we work our way through. Those are my opening remarks, Mr. Chair.

I will now open the floor to general comments on Committee Report 6-19(2), Report on Remote Sittings. Do any Members have general comments? Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My general comment is: I would like to express appreciation to the committee for undertaking this work. We do not know when we will need it, but what we have here is a very comprehensive road map of what a virtual sitting could look like. No doubt, there are things that we have not considered, but I thank the committee for getting us off to a good start. Thank you.

Do Members have any other general comments? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Member. Are there any further general comments? Seeing no further comments, Member for Frame Lake.