This is page numbers 341 - 376 of the Hansard for the 15th Assembly, 6th 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 name.

Topics

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm advised that the department was aware of the original submission put in by the Construction Association. The intention is to make sure that the definitions are clarified and not substantively changed over what is currently understood by the definitions.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I ask the Minister or his officials whether there has been any consultation with the Construction Association to make sure that this approach is acceptable to them?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the reasons that it's being left to regulations is that it allows that consultation to take place, but the Construction Association will be involved in the consultative process, yes.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That has been my understanding. So could I ask the Minister just to get some information on when that consultation on the regulatory wording and the meaning of that will take place? Thank you.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. After the bill is passed, the intention is to bring it into force as quickly as possible. So the consultation is planned for this fall.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Braden.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a couple of provisions here that I wanted to see a bit more information on this otherwise very progressive bill. Mr. Chairman, the bill brings in a couple of areas that provides for more clarification. This is specifically in the areas of compassionate and bereavement leave. The question that I wanted to pose regarded the definition of family, as these two provisions would allow and there is contained in the act a definition of it and I understand also that this is consistent with federal labour legislation. Of course, it's spouses and children of employees and other persons. There was a member of a class of persons described by federal enactment, etcetera, but provision (e) in the definition says any other person who is a member of a class of persons described by regulation. Regulations, Mr. Chairman, as we know, tend to be written after an act is passed or a bill is passed by this Assembly. So I was wondering if the Minister is contemplating that there will be additional definitions of family allowed in this area in terms of bereavement and compassionate leave. I know that this has some special application here in the North, Mr. Chairman, where our definition or our consideration of family has different cultural circumstances attached to it. So how does the Minister propose to be handling a definition of family as regards to the regulations, Mr. Chairman?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 366

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

August 16th, 2007

Page 366

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason this has been written this way is to recognize that the definition of family may be different in the North than what you might find elsewhere and while the family has been defined under compassionate leave pretty much along the way that it is now recognized by the federal government, that's been done just to ensure that where employment insurance would kick in, it's a consistent definition here for us; but under bereavement leave, the expectation is that we will have a definition that is much broader, recognizing the northern reality or a broader understanding of what makes up a family and ensuring the people are a broader range of family members then able to take bereavement leave that might be the case for compassionate leave.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

The department engaged in quite a considerable consultation process already leading up to this bill and from everything I saw, it was a pretty good process, Mr. Chairman. Will there be further consultation or attempts to see what the general public thinks should be brought in for defining family for this bereavement leave aspect? Is there going to be another round of discussions, Mr. Chairman?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the expectation was that there would be some public discussion about that issue. One manner might be, for instance, to take a stab at a draft of what the regulation might look like and then go out and ask people have we got it right. That process is not dissimilar from what was undertaken in the first place and I think worked fairly well to stimulate discussion.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask in another area a little bit about the minimum wage provisions. This bill proposes that minimum wage from now on could be set by the Minister in regulation, which is a change. It takes it out of the legislative realm. On occasion, legislatures do go in and amend minimum wage to accommodate for things like the activity or lack of it in the economy or rates of inflation. It's not done very often. I think I remember in the last eight years, I don't know that it's come up more than once in my term here, but I wanted to, and I have no objection to it becoming more or less than an administrative change rather than a political one, but I wanted to ask what kind of indicators or triggers or thresholds the department would use in deciding when it was time to go in and change the minimum wage? What would be the indicators that would bring this about in this closed process, Mr. Chairman?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on one of the points that Mr. Braden was making, or just to provide some clarification perhaps, Nunavut is the only other jurisdiction in Canada that still uses legislation to set minimum wage. So in this change we are expecting that we are making it easier for the government to make smaller changes more regularly, which we think is a more appropriate way in which to handle this. I would expect that the government would annually take a look at what has been happening across the board with wages and embark on a process of consulting with chambers of commerce and trade unions about potentially changing the minimum wage.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Finally, in the area of the appeals process under this bill, we are proposing a fairly substantive change there and that is going from a panel to a sole adjudicator model. I wanted to ask the Minister of our ability or intention to ask those people who are currently serving on the appeals panel to gauge their interest in taking on the job as a sole adjudicator and, more specifically, Mr. Chairman, what kinds of training and expertise we would be offering or expecting these people to have before taking them on as sole adjudicators. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

The Chair

The Chair Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 367

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The existing members of the Labour Standards Board will be considered adjudicators by the terms of this bill. So their appointments continue automatically as sole adjudicators. We are hoping that they are prepared to continue to act as adjudicators so that we can take advantage of the experience and knowledge that they have already gained on the job. The expectation will be that there will be regular training sessions for adjudicators, offering them a chance to come together so they get to know each other and meet face to face at least annually for training sessions and that would facilitate not only the training that they would be expected to get, but for them to get to know each other so that they are comfortable in cases where they may want to seek another opinion of an adjudicator; they're comfortable phoning or meeting with another adjudicator to discuss the case. I mean there's no reason that that couldn't happen, should an adjudicator wish to seek counsel from somebody else who is also an adjudicator in our system. So we expect that through collegial contact, through training, that we will ensure that people still have the ability to work together, if necessary, in order to get the job done better.