Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was a very detailed answer. I would ask the Premier why any consideration would not be given to the small communities in the eastern Arctic?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have always been on record, as this government has always been on record, that development in the north, whether it be diamond mining, gold mining or whatever, should be number one and benefit the communities closest to them. We do have community benefit agreements that are signed. For example, we do have a socio-economic agreement signed with this diamond mine, as well where the pickup points are, it has been fairly clear from day one, so as a position of the government and position of the mining company, basically. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the clarification. Could the Premier tell this House what efforts are in play now to further encourage mining development in the eastern Arctic? Recently, we have had a number of delegations travel to Europe for the most part, trying to benefit the communities here in the western Arctic. Therefore, what efforts are being made to capitalize on any possibilities in the eastern Arctic? Thank you.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Kivalliq Partnership which Mr. Todd talked about earlier, as the MLA from Keewatin region, is one of the things that the government is involved in. Also, we, as a government, are on record saying that we do support development in the north and we will work with northern developers, as long as it benefits northerners. We are doing that. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd. On Friday, Mr. Speaker, I believe the Minister was very clear in regard to questions which were raised on the pay equity issue and the Hay and Associates re-evaluation plan. He answered questions that my honourable colleague Mr. Miltenberger posed. This weekend, I have had more than one person contact me and in discussions with Mr. Erasmus this morning, I find that he also has had lots of people contact him regarding this issue. It is not clear to a number of the employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories what exactly happens under this evaluation process and although the Minister has made it clear what happens to the present employees, are red-circled, as he identified them as; what happens to them? I would appreciate it if the Minister would also confirm what happens to the employees who are being red-circled and what happens to those employees if they change to another job within the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say from the out set, what we have tried to do in this latest run of advertising questions in the House and interviews we have had is: one, provide some clarity to the issue; two, provide some facts and give some factual, chronological overview of where we are and why we are where we are at today. I hope I can reassure the employees. I understand that the union is out there suggesting our position is meaningless. I have said consistently we have to stop the rhetoric and get down to the bargaining table. We are judged based on what we do, not what we say. I am telling this House and our employees, those employees under the job evaluation system whose job may be reclassified down, will be red-circled. There will be no loss in pay. As a matter of fact, most of the female gender, pay will increase. We will put more money into the hands of our female employees, which they rightly deserve.

--Applause

If somebody who moves from a job that has been reclassified into another which has been reclassified downward, then they will get that pay level... let us say an employee is classified at pay level 25 and it gets reclassified to pay level 22, they will be red-circled at 25, which means they will continue to get their salary at pay level 25.

However, if they move to another job which is at pay level 22, they will move to pay level 22. This is my understanding of it. As far as I am concerned, this government has dealt with pay equity in a fair and reasonable way. I want to say again for the record, I want to say this to the employees directly, nobody, absolutely nobody who is in the system right now will lose money in their current job. In fact, most of them will gain more money. We have to get beyond this kind of rhetoric that we have consistently seen and get on to a meaningful dialogue and negotiate. This side of the bargaining table has not used rhetoric. This side of the bargaining table has said we want to negotiate a reasonable settlement. This side of the bargaining table has put what we think we can afford and the reasons why the job evaluation was done. We want to get on with resolving this issue in a reasonable and fair way and get to the negotiating table and bargain to put more money into the hands of our employees, both on the retroactive side and on the ongoing side.

I sincerely hope that our UNW colleagues, who I see as our partners in this process, will agree with that and get on with negotiating. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that and I would confirm that is the same as what he said on Friday's Hansard on page 1578 and page 1579, for those who wish to check. My question to the Minister is, do I understand it correctly that new employees coming into the Government of the Northwest Territories - and he used a position of coming into a job that was classified at pay level 25, and under the reclassification it would be 22 pay level - and coming in and becoming an employee of the Government of the Northwest Territories in that position would start at pay level 22, but anyone within the system would still remain at the higher pay level? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have the details before me. There is a greater percentage of employees who will get more money because the pay level in terms of the job evaluation has been reclassified according to Hay and Associates. Just a small group of employees, I believe, will be reclassified. For anybody new coming into a position which is being reclassified from 25 to 22, for example, it will be advertised at the 22 pay level. The current employees will be red-circled and will continue to get their pay as they currently receive it. As I have said consistently, most of them will get more money based on the pay equity resolve. I want to say clearly that the $9 million we believe it will take to bring a level playing field in pay equity, April 1, 1998, will come into being if we seek a resolve to the pay equity issue. We simply have to find the resolve to the pay equity issue to be able to pay our employees those additional dollars they rightly deserve. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of references has been made to the Hay and Associates report. Would the

Minister consider making this report available or tabling it in this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, the UNW is basically saying that the Hay and Associates report is flawed. Our position is that it is probably the most detailed job evaluation system this government has done. In fact, I am advised that the UNW was provided with training in 1997 on the Hay Job Evaluation System. At that time, according to my records, nobody disputed the fact of what we were doing then. I will take whatever steps is necessary to provide this House with the Hay and Associates job evaluation position and the work that was done to provide a gender free workplace with respect to jobs in the government. It is important to point out that in the Hay and Associates work we dealt with every single job. We used male and female employees to determine what appropriate changes had to be made to bring a gender free, biased free job evaluation system to this government. The work which was done by that group should be applauded. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.