Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you are aware on March 28, 1989 the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (Commission) on behalf of the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) alleging that the GNWT did not provide its Public Service employees with equal pay for work of equal value contrary to Sections 7, 10 and 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

The GNWT presently has an application before the federal court challenging the decision of the Commission to request the appointment of a Human Rights Tribunal to inquire into the Section 7 and 11 portions of the complaint while continuing to investigate the Section 10 portion of the complaint. It is expected that this application will be heard in the fall.

Mr. Speaker, on March 17, 1998 Justice Muldoon of the federal court, in a decision in a pay equity case involving Bell Canada, said the following:

That the method of comparing wages of employees in female dominated jobs with employees in male dominated jobs presently being used by the Commission is illegal.

That it is bad faith for a union to negotiate a collective agreement and then file a pay equity complaint against the employer.

That unions have a responsibility for lost wages due to pay inequities in collective agreements they negotiate.

In light of this decision, the GNWT is in the process of amending its present federal court application to ask to have the complaint filed against the GNWT dismissed or alternatively to have the UNW held jointly responsible for any award made by a Human Rights Tribunal. On March 23, 1998, Justice McGillis of the federal court, in another decision in a pay equity case involving Bell Canada, said that Human Rights Tribunals, appointed under the Canadian Human Rights Act, lacked the requisite level of independence. Because of this federal court decision, the Human Rights Tribunal appointed to hear the complaint filed against the GNWT, has been adjourned indefinitely.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT's preference is still a negotiated solution to the pay equity complaint filed against the GNWT. The GNWT and I, as Finance Minister, stand by its final settlement offer to the UNW, which as you know includes the introduction of a bias-free job evaluation system, as a fair and reasonable settlement to the pay equity complaint. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause