Clause 2.

Clause 3. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is a process that we do, but we are passing legislation that would affect the people of the Northwest Territories. I guess especially the public servants. I think the people need to know what it is that we are passing and what the sections are going to say. So, Mr. Chairman, I would like the Minister to read section 3 and it is quite a lengthy section, so he could go subsection by subsection and explain what the implication of this is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, following the discussions with the committee, I have a number of amendments to propose for clause 3 and it might be more useful to go through the amendments first rather than reading the clause as it is and then going back and amending it after. Thank you.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Any commonsensical, rational-thinking person would show that you have to have a clear wording of the proposed clause first and then you can talk about how you want to amend it. Because we have a bill in front of us and it has a huge, long section, section 3, I would like to have the Minister reading section 3 that he is asking us to consider and vote on.

Excuse me, Ms. Lee, could you be more precise on what section of clause 3 are you aiming at? You are talking in general terms. Could you direct your question to the section of the clause that you want to have the general comment on? Could you be more specific on the section you want to talk about?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be very pleased to. I am just saying that I made a request to the Minister to read section 3 because I would like to know what it is that he is asking me to consider and vote on in this House on behalf of my constituents, and he suggested that maybe we should deal with the amendments first, but I am saying it would be in more proper order to read in the section that he is asking us to consider before the amendments are introduced and debated.

Does the Minister agree to or would like to bring your amendments now to clause 3? Could you read clause 3 as it sits for Ms. Lee?

Mr. Chairman, clause 3 reads as follows:

The following is added after section 39:

40. In this section and in sections 40.1 to 40.7:

"complaint" means a complaint of discrimination in contravention of section 40.1;

"party" means an employee who files a complaint under subsection 40.4(1), the employer of the employee who filed the complaint, and any employees' association that is a party to a collective agreement that provides for the pay that is the subject of the complaint;

"pay" means for any form of payment made by an employer for work performed by an employee and includes salary, commission, vacation pay, severance pay, pay in lieu of notice of termination, bonuses, the value of any board, rent or housing provided, contributions to a disability plan or pension plan and any other advantage received directly or indirectly by the employee.

40.1(1) Where employees employed in the same establishment perform work of equal value for an employer, no employer shall, on the basis of sex, discriminate against such employee by paying the employee at a rate of pay less than the rate paid to other such employees.

(2) For greater certainty, it is not a contravention of subsection (1) if a difference in rate of pay is attributable to a system or factor that is not based on sex, such as

(a) a seniority system;

(b) a merit system;

(c) a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or performance;

(d) a compensation or hiring system that recognizes the existence of a labour shortage in respect of that field of work;

(e) a compensation or hiring system that recognizes regional differences in cost of living;

(f) a downgrading, reclassification or demotion process or system;

(g) the existence of a temporary rehabilitation or training program.

(3) No employer shall reduce the rate of pay of an employee in order to comply with subsection (1).

(4) For the purposes of this section, each of the following groups of employees is a separate establishment:

(a) employees of the public service other than employees of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation or teachers;

(b) employees of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation;

(c) teachers.

(5) For the purposes of this section, the work that one employee performs and the work that another employee performs is work of equal value if, in respect of the work of each employee, the composite skill, effort and responsibility required in performance of the work and the conditions under which the work is performed is equal.

40.2(1) The Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, shall appoint an equal pay commissioner to exercise the powers and perform the duties set out in this act.

(2) A person is eligible to be appointed as equal pay commissioner if he or she

(a) as expertise in the study and application of the right to equal pay for work of equal value; and

(b) is not a member of the public service.

(3) Subject to subsections (5) to (7), the equal pay commissioner holds office during good behaviour for a term of four years.

(4) A person holding office as equal pay commissioner continues to hold office after the expiry of his or her term of office until he or she is reappointed, a successor is appointed or a period of six months has expired, whichever first occurs.

(5) The equal pay commissioner shall resign at any time by notifying the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in writing or, if the Speaker is absent or unable to act or the office of the Speaker is vacant, by so notifying the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

(6) The Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, may, for a cause or incapacity, suspend or remove from office the equal pay commissioner.

(7) If the Legislative Assembly is not sitting, the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Board of Management or the Legislative Assembly, may suspend the equal pay commissioner for cause or incapacity.

(8) The Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Board of Management or the Legislative Assembly, may appoint an eligible person, as described in subsection (2), as acting equal pay commissioner when

(a) the equal pay commissioner is temporarily unable to act because of illness or for another reason,

(b) the office of equal pay commissioner becomes vacant when the Legislative Assembly is not sitting,

(c) the equal pay commissioner is suspended when the Legislative Assembly is not sitting; or

(d) the equal pay commissioner is removed or the office of the equal pay commissioner becomes vacant when the Legislative Assembly is sitting, but no recommendation is made by the Legislative Assembly under subsection (1) before the end of the sitting.

(9) An acting equal pay commissioner holds office until

(a) the equal pay commissioner returns to office after a temporary absence,

(b) the suspension of the equal pay commissioner ends, or

(c) a person is appointed under subsection (1).

(10) If, for any reason the equal pay commissioner determines that he or she should not act in respect to any particular matter under this act, the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly may appoint an eligible person as described in subsection (2) as a special equal pay commissioner to act in the place of the equal pay commissioner in respect of that matter.

(11) A special equal pay commissioner holds office until the conclusion of the matter in respect of which he or she has been appointed.

40.21. The equal pay commissioner, and where applicable an acting equal pay commissioner, or a special equal pay commissioner, shall

(a) be paid

(i) the prescribed honorarium

(ii) at the prescribed hourly rate in respect to the performance of functions described in subsections 40.2(1); and

(b) be reimbursed for the reasonable travel and other expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of functions described in subsection 40.22(1).

40.22 (1) The equal pay commissioner shall

(a) receive complaints, conduct investigations, assist parties to resolve complaints and prepare investigation reports in accordance with section 40.4;

(b) promote awareness and understanding of the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

(2) The equal pay commissioner may engage the seservices of experts or other persons necessary to assist in carrying out the functions of the equal pay commissioner.

40.23 (1) The equal pay commissioner shall, by July 1, of each year, prepare and submit to the Speaker a report of the activities of the equal pay commissioner and the discharge of his or her duties under this act during the preceding year.

Excuse me, Mr. Handley. Your 10 minutes is up. I would like to ask if there are any general comments from any other Members dealing with clause 3? Any other Members have specific questions on clause 3? Clause 3.

Ms. Lee, to the item in clause 3.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I realize that the Minister ran out of time although he was doing a very good job reading it. I want to know what the official record will be because while he has been doing a good job, he has misread some of the words. We will have the official rule of the... We don't want to change the law just because he's not reading it right.

Point of order. Mr. Dent.

Point Of Order

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that the rules of the House state that a Member has 10 minutes on an item before the House. I believe that on clause 3, Ms. Lee has had her 10 minutes now.

Mr. Dent, to your Point of Order, the rules read that a Member has 10 minutes to ask a question on any particular clause. Once the 10 minutes is up, I have to offer the other Members who may want to ask a question. At that point, if no one else wants to ask a question, the Member does have the prerogative to ask another question as long as the item is with regard to the item that's being discussed, which is clause 3. So it's the chair's discretion to allow a Member to have more than 10 minutes. So you do not have a Point of Order.

Clause 3, Ms. Lee, could you be more specific to the clause itself, so you can point out where you would like to some clarification? Clause 3.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a very long clause, so long the Minister couldn't read it into the record. On the one that he read, Mr. Chairman, I do have a specific question. Subsection 40.22(1) where it speaks about the functions of the equal pay commissioner, one of the things that this equal pay commissioner will be allowed to do and, in fact, has to do because it says "the equal pay commissioner shall..." and subsection (b) says promote awareness and understanding of the right to equal pay for work of equal value. That is of interest to me because as you are well aware, there have been some discussions about different statutory officers. There are questions raised sometimes about the limit of this kind of duty and how we articulate the intention of the Assembly when we pass legislation like that because we may mean what we think we mean, but when it gets translated into real life, the holders of these various offices have a different understanding of what that is. I would like to ask the Minister for information about what the knowledge is across the country about the kind of work in terms of promoting awareness and understanding by the comparable equal pay commissioners in other jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I will ask Ms. Woodward to respond to this.

Ms. Woodward.