There is a fair list of items that the Chief Electoral Officer deals with during the two-year period between elections. The Chief Electoral Officer always has to be ready and have things ready in case of a by-election. For example, in the 15th Assembly there were two by-elections

that the Chief Electoral Officer had to run. They also have a registrar of territorial electors that they maintain on a continual basis. They maintain voters’ lists. There is a legislative review response from the standing committee on the Chief Electoral Officer’s report that they have to work on. Training and form revisions in between elections to do corrections on. They also assist other jurisdictions with election issues. There is general training of elections officers as well that go on, on almost a continual basis. There are some strategic initiatives and Electoral Boundaries Commission and mapping. There is a fair bit of work that they do in between.

Some of the things that the Member has brought up, it would probably be better dealt with when meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, whoever that may be, when they file their annual report in standing committee. If it is how they operate and that sort of thing and complaints on operations would probably be better dealt directly with the CEO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In actual fact, there is only one full-time position at the Chief Electoral Office. There is a part-time position that also provides support to the Human Rights Commission or Human Rights Adjudication Panel. The only one full-time position that is associated with the Chief Electoral Officer is the DCO’s position. As far as the Chief Electoral Officer, at one time the duties were provided by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly and ended back in the 13th or 14th Assembly. It was

at the recommendation of the then-Clerk of the Assembly, David Hamilton. It seemed very much as if the elections are running to have the Clerk do the elections and be responsible for elections. In a lot of cases they are returning Members. Because of the relationship between the Clerk and Members of the Legislative Assembly, the perception of being biased or whatever is quite strong. As well, lots of elections, there may be some complaints filed. If the Clerk was to find himself in a position where he is dealing with a complaint on a sitting Member, it could be a very…It was recommended by David Hamilton that those operations be separated. That is the way they are in every jurisdiction in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chairman

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the Chief Electoral Officer position is considered full time. It does have some degree, though, of…In the year leading up to an election and the election year and the year following for a two-year period, the Chief Electoral Officer is paid a full salary and is considered basically full time. In the two years in between elections, the Chief Electoral Officer position is reduced somewhat and the pay level is reduced considerably because of the reduced workload that is involved in the office. But the position is considered a full-time position.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as elections are concerned, the Chief Electoral Officer is only responsible for territorial elections, and municipalities control their own elections. As far as I know, band councils control their own elections as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly do appreciate the kind comments that Members have made and the comments on different issues that we are preparing to take on.

With the paper issue, I know it’s been mentioned that it seems like a pretty high target of 80 percent. We are certainly not in a position where we want to try to eliminate all paper in the building or short change the amount of paper that Members need to do their jobs. However, we have already taken some steps and there are some areas where we can increase that number or get closer to that percentage target that we want by doing some very simple things here. There are areas where we use a tremendous amount of paper and we think we can eliminate a lot of that without affecting how Members do their jobs and their ability to do their job. So we will be working forward. Any of the initiatives that I have announced in the budget, of course, will only be attainable with the cooperation of all Members, and I sense that there is a willingness of all Members to head down these avenues that we are looking at and I really appreciate that.

I know it was mentioned that we are having the fall seminar for the CPA conference this year. I think that that is one of the paybacks. Sometimes we hear questions about what we get out of these parliamentary seminars and that kind of thing. I think they are very informative and important for us to attend. When we get an opportunity to host one of those meetings and bring outside politicians to the North and see how we operate and how our system of government operates, I think that is a very valuable vote for us and for the rest of the country, for that matter.

So, again, we are looking forward to being able to implement a lot of the things that I mentioned. Certainly I know that some of the Members here won’t be as easy to drop the pop as other Members. I don’t think it’s going to be a situation where we are going to have somebody at the door stopping people from bringing pop in the building,

but more or less that we aren’t going to be the ones supplying it for them.

I think with the cooperation of Members, I think we can go a long way towards achieving this goal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, to my left I have Olin Lovely, director of corporate services, and to my right I have Tim Mercer, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

Yes, I would, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, I do. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2009-10 main estimates for the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Chairman, this year marks the second year of the Assembly’s expenditure reduction exercise. The Board of Management has approved an operating budget of $15.65 million for the Assembly this year.

This represents an expenditure increase of 1.8 percent over last year’s budget.

Mr. Chairman, in addition to fully implementing the Board of Management’s two-year target expenditure reductions, the 2009-10 main estimates includes a number of important new initiatives. These include funding for the work of the independent commission to review compensation and benefits which must be established in the upcoming fiscal year.

Funding is also included to host the Canadian Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Seminar in October. This seminar will be attended by Legislatures from across Canada who will have a rare opportunity to visit the North and learn how our unique system of consensus government works.

Mr. Chairman, the main estimates before you include $14 million to support the work of the Assembly’s various statutory officers. Of note is the additional funding required to implement amendments to the Human Rights Act approved by this Assembly. These amendments will see a clearer distinction drawn between the activities of the various agencies established under the act. Mr. Chair, as was the case last year, all our statutory officers were given the opportunity to appear before the Board of Management to substantiate and defend their operating budget requirements. Their valued input is reflected in the Assembly’s estimates.

While not included in the current operating budget, I wish to advise Members that planning is well underway to repair the Legislative Assembly roadway system and increase its parking capacity.

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A budget request will be put before the Assembly this fall, with work being scheduled for completion during the 2010 construction season.

Mr. Chair, the global economic slowdown and its resulting impact on capital markets have had serious implications for private and public sector pension plans throughout the world. As Members know, the Board of Management manages over $38 million in assets held in the Legislative Assembly’s two pension plans. While these investments have not been immune to capital market downturns, I am pleased to report that both plans continue to hold healthy surplus positions and will not require the infusion of any public funds for the foreseeable future. I want to thank my colleagues on the Board of Management in both this and the last Assembly for the prudence and foresight they have demonstrated in protecting the interests of past, current and future plan beneficiaries.

Mr. Chair, I want to take a few moments to advise the House and the public of a number of initiatives my office is undertaking to show leadership in environmental and personal responsibilities. First, I am pleased to advise the House that the Board of Management has approved the installation of a wood pellet boiler at the Legislative Assembly during the upcoming fiscal year.

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This system will reduce the Assembly’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 90 percent and reduce its annual heating costs by 18 percent. The system will work in tandem with the building’s existing boiler, which will still operate to handle peak loads and provide emergency redundancy.

It should come as no surprise to any of you when I say that this institution is addicted to paper. If we were to take all the paper that we use in this building in a year and stack it in piles, it would reach the top of this Chamber more than six times. Placed end to end, this paper would stretch from Yellowknife to Fort Providence. Maybe it’s one way we could use to fill all the holes between here and Enterprise.

The Assembly’s recent decision to allow the use of laptop computers in Committee of the Whole and standing committees provides a key opportunity to change our processes and reduce this waste. While information technology will unquestionably provide convenience and efficiency to the activities of Members while in the Chamber and committees, the greatest benefit will be in using this opportunity to change the way we do business, to reduce our dependency on paper and help the environment.

I have set an ambitious target of reducing our paper consumption by 80 percent in the next year and I look forward to the cooperation of all Members in assisting with this transition.

More than one Member has expressed an interest to me in finding ways to make their activities carbon neutral. I am pleased to advise Members that I will introduce regulatory amendments early in the new fiscal year to allow Members to use their constituency budgets to purchase carbon offsets from institutions meeting the Gold Standard. This will enable any Member to use their budgets to promote a carbon neutral approach to representing their constituents.

Finally, the Legislative Assembly has in recent years lead by example with respect to social and personal responsibility. In these halls we need to both talk the talk and walk the walk in this spirit. I want to advise Members that the Legislative Assembly is going to Drop the Pop and ditch the disposable water bottles effective June 1st of this

year. I have directed the Assembly’s catering contractor to discontinue the sale or distribution of soft drinks and bottled water in the Legislative Assembly, including at private meetings and functions.

The Legislative Assembly is the most important public institution in the Northwest Territories. As lawmakers, role models and politicians, we must each practice the habits that we want people to emulate. I know you will all cooperate as we make these important changes.

Before I conclude, I want to take advantage of this rare opportunity at the mike to recognize some outstanding work at the Legislative Assembly this year. For the past year the Government Operations committee has been conducting an exhaustive review of the implementations of the NWT Official Languages Act. The committee, under the leadership of MLA Kevin Menicoche, has travelled extensively throughout the NWT, hearing and documenting the concerns of our language speakers and communities. The report of this committee will be tabled in the House during this session. I have seen some early drafts of this report and I want to state how impressed I am with the work that has been done on this important file. This is the bread and butter work of legislators. Our committee has done work here that we can all take great pride in. I hope all Members and the public pay close attention to this report when it is made public in the days ahead. I want to make special mention of the work of the committee staff who assisted with this review; particularly the research and drafting that Regina Pfeifer has done in support of this committee’s work, which rivals that of the highest paid consultants we too often rely upon for advice and expertise.

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Advice and expertise that is usually available to us in house. Congratulations to all the committee members and staff on this excellent piece of work.

This concludes my opening comments. I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have.

We will continue to look at the possibility of doing that. We have had a private firm come forward with a proposal to do with pellet conversion. We have shown some interest in that, but we haven’t heard back from them yet as to what they see as the possibilities of doing work here with the building. We will continue to look at ways that we can possibly make some improvements in that area. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.