Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Time and focus are key for economic prosperity and change in our communities, to allow leaders more time to implement the vision that will help all communities and increase their ability to show progress and results. The third element is the appeals of band council elections. Under the Indian Act, election appeals are received, reviewed, investigated, and decided upon by the minister and his department. Numbers given to us by the department show that 30% of all elections under the Indian Act have been appealed, which amounts to 40 elections per year, give or take.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The two spokespersons are the NDP whip, Nycole Turmel, and the Chief Government Whip, the hon. John Duncan. Minister Duncan and Madam Turmel are the spokespeople for the board and, again, there you'll see the balance that is kept in terms of the approach of the board in its communications.

Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act  That is exactly how the opposition feels. For many years, first nations have said that the Indian Act is holding back progress. It does govern almost every aspect of life for people living on reserve. In July 2011 at the annual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations, National Chief Shawn Atleo said it was time to set aside the Indian Act and dismantle the Department of Indian Affairs to create two smaller departments, one to administer a government-to-government relationship, and the other to provide services to first nations.

Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to this bill. It is very clear that the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River has the best of intentions. With great regret, I have to join those who are opposed to this bill. For the most part, it is not because of the substantive changes the member has brought forward, which a number of members in his party have spoken for.

First Nations Elections Act  The term of office for elected chiefs and councils under the Indian Act is only two years, which places communities in a continual state of electioneering and undermines long-term planning. The mail-in ballot is prone to abuse. The appeals process to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is paternalistic and complicated and often takes too long to produce findings and a final ruling.

First Nations Elections Act  We certainly do not want to do more harm than good. The alternative is to modernize the most damaging provisions of the Indian Act. This could be achieved not by updating the Indian Act itself but by equipping first nations with new tools and mechanisms to manage their affairs. That is how we could creation conditions that enable sustainable and successful first nations.

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General recently stated some program spending of the department of Indian affairs fails to meet strategy objectives, exhibits management inadequacies, lacks appropriate performance and evaluation information and thus impedes accountability. In addition, the department has not published an annual report since 1992.

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act  Mr. Speaker, there was some confusion between two members of the NDP the last time we debated this issue. The member for St. John's East was very clear that he expected the criteria to apply to all 101,000 applicants, whereas the member for Western Arctic made it clear that he thought the 23,877 members who had already received Indian status should be protected and should not be subject to the same criteria as the others who applied later.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the procedure and House affairs committee has already studied this subject at great length. The NDP was on this path during those committee hearings and got no support. As a matter of fact, the Auditor General has stated, as I said in my speech, that the controls and processes in place by the House of Commons administration are extremely robust and more than adequate to fulfill the task.

Business of Supply  They are heckling me now, Mr. Speaker. The NDP members claim that they will not report their expenses because the systems currently used by other parties require self-policing. While we agree that we should work toward a system that is vetted by House administration, we do not agree that this is a barrier to MPs being accountable to their constituents.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that what we have in front of us today is an allotted day opposition motion from the Liberal Party of Canada. I would like to actually thank the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor for his motion, because moving toward increased transparency and accountability is something our Conservative government has strongly supported and continues to support.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for sharing with us a little bit about Indian Affairs and Northern Development, as it's known in the supplementary (B)s. I want to share with you the fact that I come from the Okanagan, from Kelowna—Lake Country, and am representing Westbank First Nation and the Okanagan Indian Band.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I am a little astounded with some of the things that have been said here. Since we became government, we have put in place all of the things that needed to be addressed in a comprehensive way in order to make real progress in terms of advancing to the point where first nations will have the same water standards and quality as other Canadians have.

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band  Aboriginal Affairs granted official Indian status to the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq finally. They finally got it. It was originally anticipated that fewer than 10,000 people would step forward and apply for aboriginal status.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Welcome to the committee. It probably has not escaped your attention that the Minister of Indian Affairs was in the north this week. A major reason he was there is that the regulatory system in NWT has become a reason for investors to vote with their dollars to go somewhere else.