This is page numbers 1899 - 1944 of the Hansard for the 15th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Topics

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. As the process would work, when a department comes forward for a supplementary request from FMB, if we feel there is enough information to approve, we would do that; if not, we would send them back or decline and request more information. In this particular case, the Minister did some work within the department and had a review done and the substantiation is what they brought forward. If the Minister is prepared to supply that information, then I guess we can go to Minister Miltenberger for that information.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I would be happy to provide Social Programs with the background work that led us to this position.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Who else do I have on my list? The time is up for Mr. Ramsay. General comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Looking through the supplementary there are a lot of numbers there for fuel increase in all the departments. I want to ask the Minister, are we to expect this next year? It seems like with these numbers, someone wasn't paying attention to the pricing of fuel in the Territories and it seems like we got caught off guard. Is this going to be the same situation for next year? Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. With the area of the fuel price increases or the request for supplementary appropriation from a number of the departments is...From within FMB, when departments would come forward and they would request money up front for increasing their budgets based on the possibility of price increases, we would send them back and say come back with actuals, because the price of oil would be fluctuating too much.

This amount goes back to 2002. We feel that with this adjustment, we shouldn't have to come back with another request for this next year. However, if the prices of fuel continue to climb, there could be that necessity to come back for further requests for that. Our policy is that we build the budgets to not adjust them for forced growth until they could have the actual numbers, because of the volatility of the price itself. We feel with the adjustments and with the budget adjustments in the budget we just brought forward, that departments should be able to live within what has been appropriated. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1930

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, also in the opening comments, the Minister has indicated, in bold-point form, $1.6 million for increases to compensation resulting from the re-evaluation of nursing and allied health care professions. Could the Minister further explain the $1.6 million increase

as a result of the re-evaluation of nursing and allied health care professionals? Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the Government of the Northwest Territories went under a major review of the job classifications so a job evaluation process was initiated back in 1998. In March of 2000, a grievance was filed by the UNW on behalf of about 42 nurses that were grieving that their job descriptions did not accurately reflect the duties that they were required to perform. With the work that we had started on that basis, we did a re-evaluation of their jobs and coming forward with the results of that and making the adjustments in the pay scale system, this is the impact of that work. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Can the Minister tell me if this situation, this case is closed once and for all or are there other cases that haven't come forward for next year in terms of further increases to compensation regarding evaluation? Is that something we may expect? Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The process we are involved in with our human resource system allows for individuals to appeal the classification that they are in and there are a few outstanding yet that may impact us. It is open for members of our workforce to appeal their classification and, depending on the outcome of those appeals, it could have some impact. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. It may be hard for the Minister to crystal-ball; however, he does leave some questions for me. He says a few impacts; is it under $500,000 or is it going to be another $1 million? I know it is going to be difficult for him to answer but...I'm not too sure if I can get him to commit to a number in terms of the significance of the impacts for next year for this increase in compensation for these nurses. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. It would be difficult. There are about 40 positions that are still under review and it all depends on the years of service, if retroactive payments are involved, the classification that they are in, if it is a community nurse, a whole lot of things come into play. It would be pretty hard to crystal-ball the possible outcomes. Some of it might be turned down and need very little adjustment, but what we did when the first grievance was filed by the UNW in January of the last year, we went into a review that resulted in about 472 positions being re-evaluated and almost half of those were assigned higher ratings, which resulted in just about 200 positions with higher ratings and that has had an impact and we have had to bring that forward. Going forward, it would be very difficult to crystal-ball that. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I appreciate the Minister's answers. Does this open us up to any other types of workers in the Northwest Territories, in terms of this type of work that you are doing with the nurses in terms of compensation or re-evaluation? Are we open up to any other professional jobs, such as teachers or social workers that could also possibly look at a grievance process also? Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The process, as it works, allows for all UNW and excluded employees to appeal, so there could be further appeals. Again, the initial job evaluation methodology that was used when the GNWT went to the Hay job evaluation process that we entered into, came up with a rating. Pay was adjusted on that basis and as a result of that there was a grievance filed on behalf of 42 nurses that triggered this going into action and the re-evaluation of the positions. Again, it is open to employees that feel that they are not getting a fair shake, they can grieve it and if successful that will have an impact on us in the future. Thank you.

Committee Motion 40-15(3) To Amend Bill 17 To Come Into Force On The Earlier Of The Prorogation Of The First Session Of The 38th Parliament And The Coming Into Force Of The Civil Marriage Act (canada), Defeated
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 1931

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.