Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Finance in relation to the final offer that was made, I believe, to the union. In that offer, there are many people who are what is termed red circled, which means that if their wages had gone down due to their new classification, they would not actually go down in terms of dollars as long as they are still working in that position. Would the Minister please clarify for me what this means? I am still struggling with exactly what it means, and there are various people who are asking. Would he please clarify that for me?

Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me try to give you a hypothetical situation. Employee A being under the old system, pay level 25, step 3, and receives X amount of dollars. The reclassification takes him or her down to pay level 23, step 3, so it will be a significant drop in wages. We red circled that position, and as long as that employee remains in that position, his pay level, as he currently has, pay level 25, step 3, remains in place. On top of that, he gets the additional two percent increase, any northern allowance increase, any bonuses, et cetera. What we are saying is, with any existing employees in those jobs, there will be no cash reduction on their salary while they remain in those jobs. If that employee was to leave to go to another job, move along, and a new employee was to come in, it would be at the new pay level. As I said in my statement earlier, it is a win/win situation for everybody. I know it has caused some anguish, to not only my honourable colleague, Mr. Erasmus, but Mr. Roland spoke about it, so I hope this clarifies it. There will be no cash loss, whatever the existing pay level was. Should they be classified down as some of them are, it will not affect that individual at the job as long as they remain in the job. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It appears as though there are quite a few red circled employees who seem to feel that the government may lay them off so that they will be able to hire new people under the new classification, which would then mean lower wages have to be paid. Would the Minister make a commitment that this will not occur? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think that we want to make it clear that the Premier was very clear, in his statement he made earlier in the last session where he said there would be no further layoffs. I think that is all I would do is reiterate that position as the Finance Minister and as all my other colleagues are here. There is no strategy in place to do any of that kind of thing, we want to contain or keep, if you want, the employees that we have. There is no movement, whatsoever, to let employees go so that we can bring new employees in at a lower pay level. That would be totally unacceptable. It is unacceptable, the Premier said that and the rest of the Cabinet supported it. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Presumably, if people are at a certain pay level and if they are not at the last step, they should receive pay increments every year. Would the Minister indicate how those pay increments are affected? Will they be the same as usual or are they less or are they more due to this red circling? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My

understanding of the situation is that if a person is at pay level 25, step 3 and because a job evaluation has been evaluated at pay level 23, as long as that individual is in the job, he remains at pay level 25, step 3 and the following year he moves to pay level 25, step 4, step 5, step 6. That is my understanding of the situation. I will qualify it by saying that I will double check with Mr. Voytilla, but I am reasonably confident that is the situation. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that information. On a final note with the final offer, the Minister indicated that he would be revisiting the cost of living index, could he indicate if he has any indication when this will occur? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to commend both Mr. Erasmus and Mr. Henry for bringing this issue before me and writing informative letters. It is appreciated when you get colleagues who take the time to speak with the Finance Minister and try to find solutions to difficult problems and I want to advise their constituency today in this House that I do appreciate that, of course, as other colleagues in this House do. Mr. Speaker, the final offer is on the table right now. I have committed to re-examining the Northern Allowance component for Yellowknife in particular and I intend to do that in the coming weeks in an effort to see if we can get a more fair approach to the normal side of things and I intend to do that as quickly as I can.

--Applause

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a multi-year contract. The intention is to try to get as much work done as possible this year, but doing this magnitude of work in this kind of terrain, it is difficult to say. The intent is to get as much work done as possible. I cannot say, at this point, whether the whole amount, which is budgeted for this year, will be spent this year. Thank you.

Question period is over. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the budget is $8 million plus for this year and the public tender has not gone out yet for the two sections, so we do not really know what kind of numbers is going to come in. That is what the department estimated the two sections would cost for this year's operation. Why the tender is going to be made later in the summer, I think it all has to do with the accessibility into that part of the country where you have rocks, lakes and swamps. To start blasting, I think we need to do it more in the fall or winter when the terrain is frozen, so that there is accessibility into that area. That is what my understanding of why later in the year rather than in the summer. Thank you.