I do.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left is Jennifer Young, director of corporate affairs. On my -- close to me on the right is Laurie Fife, director of community governance. And in the far right is Christina Duffy, director of legislation, legislative division. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, the committee that reviewed the bill, for any opening comments on Bill 66. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Bill 66, An Act to Amend the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, received second reading on November 3rd, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. Committee engaged with stakeholders and the public in its review of the bill. Committee held a public review on the bill on January 23rd, 2023, and received two written submissions.

Committee was able to use that feedback to seek amendments that take transparency into consideration. Committee was pleased to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs on these amendments.

On February 13th, 2023, the standing committee completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill where it passed a motion to report Bill 66 as amended to the Legislative Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

I would like to thank committee and the Minister and the staff for their work on review of Bill 66. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 66. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Kind of seems like a lifetime ago but I actually served on city council in Yellowknife in 1997 to 2006, and I remember being at probably more than one conventions of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities where motions were passed, asking for changes to this piece of legislation. And so, you know, fast forward to what -- I can't even do the math anymore -- 20 years later, almost 20 years later, 25 years, whatever, and some of those changes are in this bill. And so I want to commend the department for getting around to those changes. And I -- you know, I think this Minister has found a way to light fires within his department, not literally, even though he's got that responsibility as well, but figuratively. And so I want to commend him for getting some legislation out of MACA, which we just didn't seem to be able to do in the 18th Assembly. And, you know, the Minister sat on this side of the House. So he well knows some of the concerns and issues that were raised in the House about the lack of anything ever happening at MACA. So that's good. But when are we going to get round two on path? When is that going to come? And, like, it probably is not going to happen in the lifetime of this Assembly, but what can we do to get that set up and ready for the next Assembly so that they're not sitting around twiddling their thumbs and waiting for MACA to do a little more and hoping that they get a Minister that's able to light the figurative fires. So where is phase two, and what can we do to get that going in the lifetime of this Assembly? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. So it will be in the 20th Assembly. We've already started doing the work. We've gone through legal. So we've done that work. Once we've done that, we're going to take that information to the MTAs, and then we will also be sharing that information with the Indigenous governments. So we are starting the work now, and by the time the 20th Assembly rolls in, we will have a good foundation moving forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So I'm going to push this a little bit further. So can the Minister commit to get a legislative proposal for phase two to the Regular MLAs before the end of the life of this Assembly. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Yes, thank you. Most likely we won't be able to. There's still a lot of work that we got to do before we get to that point. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to prolong this. I guess I would urge the Minister and the staff to try to find a way to get that done before the end of this Assembly. You know, legislative proposal, it doesn't have to be super detailed. Just tell us what you want to do in phase two and start talking to people now about it. So if you can do it before the end of the Assembly, please do it. Thanks, Madam Chair. That's all I got.

Thank you. Are there any further general comments? Oh, Minister, did you want to respond?

Yes. So I'd just like to clarify why we're not -- paused so we can get there. We have to find a lawyer that's an expert in this area. That's the challenge is to find somebody to do that right now. So if we find somebody and we're able to do, then we can get it going. But I'm being very realistic and response with this. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further general comments? Seeing none, can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. I will call the clauses in groups of five. Clause 1 to 5, does committee agree?

Clause 6 to 10, does committee agree?

Clauses 11 to 15, does committee agree?