Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have opening remarks on Bill 21, the Labour Standards Act. Mr. Chairman, this bill would bring the parental leave provisions in the Labour Standards Act in line with recent changes to the federal Employment Insurance Program.

The Government of Canada amended the Employment Insurance Act to provide increased parental leave benefits for natural and adoptive parents of children who were born or placed for adoption after December 31, 2000.

Under the federal program, the parents of a natural or adopted child can now obtain parental leave benefit payments for up to 35 weeks after a two-week waiting period. This is in addition to pregnancy leave benefits, which are available for 15 weeks after a two-week waiting period.

However, the changes to the Employment Insurance Act do not require employers to extend the time period of unpaid parental leave that they must grant to employees.

In the Northwest Territories, the Labour Standards Act, or in the case of federal works and undertakings the Canada Labour Code, governs minimum standards regarding the length of unpaid leave that an employer must grant for employees in the private sector.

Currently under the Labour Standards Act and Pregnancy and Parental Leave Regulations, an employer must provide an employee with up to 17 consecutive weeks of unpaid pregnancy leave if she has been working for the employer for 12 consecutive months and she gives at least four weeks notice.

In addition, an employer must provide an employee with up to 12 consecutive weeks of unpaid parental leave if he or she has been working for the employer for 12 consecutive months and he or she gives the employer at least four weeks notice. This leave can be taken to care for either a natural or an adopted child. It must be taken within a year of the birth of the child or within a year of the child being placed for adoption in the employee's home.

The Labour Standards Act requires the employer to reinstate the employee to his or her position or a comparable position after the pregnancy or parental leave. All provinces and territories except Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Yukon have passed legislation to extend the time period for unpaid parental leave.

Bill 21 would extend the period of time that employers must grant as parental leave from 12 to 37 weeks. This would help parents in the Northwest Territories to take full advantage of financial benefits now provided by the federal government.

The transitional provisions in the bill would allow eligible employees to extend their parental leave, or go back on parental leave, so they would also be able to get the benefit of the federal program. Under Bill 21, eligible employees would have to provide their employers with three weeks of notice to extend their parental leave.

During its review of the bill, the Standing Committee on Social Programs suggested that this should be changed to four weeks to match the four weeks notice that employees must give in order to take parental leave in the first place.

Bill 21 would also allow some people to go back on parental leave if their leave has expired or if they do not have enough time to give the four weeks notice. The bill gives people only two weeks from the date it comes into effect to provide their employers with notice that they will be going back on parental leave.

During its review of the bill, the standing committee suggested that employees should be allowed four weeks to provide their employers with notice instead of two weeks, so that employees will have enough time to find out about the amendment. I agree with the committee's two suggestions, so later I will be making motions that support these changes.

Mr. Chairman, Bill 21 supports this government's policies on healthy families. It will enable infants in a number of families to be cared for by their own parents during the first year of life. The bill also promotes the well-being of children who are adopted. It will assist in stronger bonding of adopted children and their parents because adoptive parents would be entitled to the same period of parental leave as their parents.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I think the amendments proposed in this bill will benefit a lot of families in the Northwest Territories. I would like to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their timely review and their helpful comments. Mahsi, Mr. Chairman.