This is page numbers 2603 - 2636 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 community.

Topics

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

---Carried

Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that Elections NWT follow the same procurement practices as the Legislative Assembly and publicly disclose all contracts, the procurement process used for each contract, and the amount of each contract in the Elections NWT annual report. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This issue was raised by Mr. Wasylciw and OpenNWT. There were some contracts that the Chief Electoral Officer entered into in the last election, particularly around online voting. Although some of the information was disclosed in the report on the conduct of the 2019 general election, it wasn't done in a systematic way. I don't think there was anything that was ever done wrong by any stretch of the imagination, but we just felt that it would be clear and more transparent to have that information presented in a consistent fashion in future reports following the practices that we have at the Legislative Assembly so that it is more clear, transparent, and accountable. That is what this recommendation is about. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

---Carried

Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Chief Electoral Officer undertake a review of best practices on election reporting and return to the Legislative Assembly within six months with the findings of that review and any potential amendments to the Elections and Plebiscites Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This issue was raised by OpenNWT. I want to compliment the Chief Electoral Officer. For anybody who has seen her reports, there is a lot of detail in there. There are some good graphics and so on that she has developed and presented over time, but the style and content sort of changes from one report to the next. Sometimes, it is hard to track trends and so on over time. There were also some issues around how absentee ballots are reported, including electronic ballots and mail-in ballots. That arose in the last election. What this does is ask the Chief Electoral Officer to go and do some work and see how this is done in other jurisdictions to make sure that we can learn from that, take the best practices, and apply them here. That work will come back, and we will have another chance to look at it in six months or sooner. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

---Carried

Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that Elections NWT post all election data that is included in its report in a machine-readable format on the Elections NWT website. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This issue was raised by OpenNWT. What they are recommending is that the elections data that is presented is in spreadsheet format or some way so that somebody can take that information and do their own analysis of it. Right now, it is not in a user-friendly format. I think this is in keeping with a more open and transparent government. That's why I think the committee supported this and recommends this for Committee of the Whole. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

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

---Carried

Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Chief Electoral Officer undertake a review of the requirements to publicly disclose a candidate's residential address and return to the Legislative Assembly within six months with the findings of that review and any potential amendments to the Elections and Plebiscites Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Yes. Sorry. I'm not sure if I'm actually on the right one. My apologies. Are we on the address one? Okay. I just wanted to take a moment to thank the committee for including this recommendation. I raised the concern. The first time I realized my address was going to be published, as a single woman living alone, was when I came down to get my mail and my address was on the local telephone pole. It was a bit concerning for me to see that. I raised that concern with all of us as Regular Members, and I appreciate that Mr. O'Reilly and the committee continue to carry that forward to include this so that, potentially, we can remove what I see as a bit of a security issue for people like myself. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. Ms. Wawzonek.

Committee Motion to Amend Committee Motion 119-19(2), Carried
Consideration Of Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 2617

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to move that the committee motion actually be amended by adding the words "or donors" immediately following the word "candidates." Thank you.