Northwest Territories.

• Author: Bennett, Gail
• Position: Legislative Reports

The First Session of the 17th Legislative Assembly reconvened on December 7, 2011. Due to adjustments in the House sitting calendar to accommodate the General Election held on October 3, 2011, the House considered the full capital budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year during the December sitting. Bill 1-17(1) Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditure), 2012-2013, received assent on December 15, 2011. During the seven-day sitting the House also adopted appointment motions for Deputy Chairpersons of Committee of the Whole and for members of standing committees.

During this final sitting of both the year and of the First Session of the 17th Assembly, a highlight was a visit to the Legislature by David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. This visit was the first by a Governor General to occur during a formal session of the House. The House introduced and adopted a motion to interrupt its proceedings to receive an address from the Governor General of Canada. Also for the first time, the House extended invitations to the leaders of the seven Regional Aboriginal Governments in the Northwest Territories to join the Members on the floor of the Chamber to receive the address.

The First Session of the 17th Assembly prorogued on December 15, 2011. Following the holiday break, Members returned for one week of Committee meetings in mid-January. Committees met to do some strategic planning, receive briefings and updates on ongoing and emerging issues and to prepare for the February sitting of the Assembly.

The Second Session opened on February 7, 2012. Once again the General Election necessitated changes to the regular sessional schedule. The usual six-week February/March budget sitting was shortened to two weeks as the House was dealing with an interim appropriation and not a full annual budget. The interim appropriation includes operations funding for the Government for the first quarter of the 2012-2013 fiscal year and is used in the year following an election to allow Members to work through the business planning process later in the spring and approve a full-year budget during an extended May/June sitting. Additional business of the House for the February sitting included two supplementary appropriation bills.

Early in the session the House also gave Third Reading to Bill 1-17(2): An Act to Amend the...