I would move that clause 2 of Bill C-15 be amended by adding after line 35 on page 5 the following:
(4) The Commissioner must, as soon as possible after receiving written instructions, make them available to the Executive Council of the Northwest Territories and cause them to be laid before the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, but the written instructions are effective when they are made.
This amendment makes instructions given to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from the Governor in Council of Canada public. This clause is similar to subsection 6(2) of the Nunavut Act.
A further amendment, NDP-4, would delete this clause 10 years after coming into force because we would be looking at those instructions being similar to the Yukon.
Basically the purpose is to ensure that the thinking behind the Northwest Territories Act is similar to what took place for other territories. I could say that if the Government of Canada doesn't give instructions to the commissioner, that would mean those instructions would not be public. In the case that they are, I think it's incumbent upon a government-to-government relationship that the person who represents the role of lieutenant governor to the greatest degree in a provincial type of setting should have some responsibility to the Government of the Northwest Territories in terms of information. It's a step down from the provinces, of course. We recognize that it will remain without the full weight of a lieutenant governor for some time yet.
Still everything possible should be done to give the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories equality with other legislative assemblies in Canada. The purpose of devolution—or if you look at it the other way, evolution—is to ensure that the people of the Northwest Territories have political rights that are as similar as possible to those of other people in this country. That is the operating principle here.
I think the government has indicated that's what it wants to do. The Nunavut Act of course was put forward by the Liberal government, and that is a historical fact. It doesn't mean we can't look for improvements to what is going on with this act.
I think this amendment respects the direction the government is taking. It may have been an oversight on its part not to include it, but I would ask that this amendment be considered.