Nunavut.

• Author: Baldwin, Alex
• Position: Legislative Reports/Rapport legislatifs - Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut

The Fourth Session of the Second Legislative Assembly of Nunavut convened on March 6, 2007. The Opening Address was delivered by Commissioner Ann Meekitjuk Hanson.

Finance Minister David Simailak delivered the Budget Address on March 7. The proceedings of the Committee of the Whole during the March sitting were "dominated by the scrutiny of the Government of Nunavut's 2007-2008 main estimates and departmental business plans.

To date, a total of 58 bills have been passed during the Second Assembly. Five bills were passed during the March sitting, including amendments to the Nunavut Elections Act and the Income Tax Act. An Act to Amend the Local Authorities Elections Act and a new Workers' Compensation Act are presently under consideration by Standing Committees of the Legislative Assembly. Nunavut and the Northwest Territories maintain a joint Workers' Compensation Board. Both legislatures are presently considering a substantially similar bill.

On March 22, Minister of Energy Ed Picco announced that legislation will be introduced in the spring sitting of the House to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the territory. On March 28, Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth Louis Tapardjuk tabled two draft bills for public discussion and consultation: a new Official Languages Act and a new Inuit Language Protection Act. It is anticipated that the bills will be formally introduced in the spring sitting.

The final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, which was established pursuant to the Nunavut Elections Act, was tabled in the House by Speaker Peter Kilabuk in November 2006. During the March 2007 sitting, Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo introduced a formal motion to reject the Commission's recommendations. The motion engendered energetic debate in the House, and was ultimately carried by a vote of 11 to 6, with one abstention.

A number of other formal motions were considered by the House during the March sitting. Mr. Tootoo introduced a motion, seconded by Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, to censure the Executive Council for the government's management of the renewal of a major government office lease in the community of Cambridge Bay. The motion was carried by a vote of 9 to 8. Mr. Tootoo also introduced a formal motion to request that the Auditor General of Canada undertake a comprehensive performance audit of the Department of Health and Social Services. The motion passed without opposition, as did that of Rankin...