Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've all heard about NTCL's financial problems. It's been granted creditor protection because it owes over $130 million that it can't pay. Steps are being taken to raise that money. As one such step, NTCL made an application with the Court of Queen's Bench in Alberta to cease the special payments it has been making to top up an underfunded employee pension plan. The plan is only funded to around 80 per cent, with a shortfall of about $22 million. That application is going to be heard by the court on October 26th, next Wednesday.
If NTCL is successful, it appears as though the 622 pension recipients will be the ones to eat that $22 million. If you're one of the eight key employees who NTCL was granted a court order to pay bonuses to, then that shortfall might not hurt you that much. However, it's more likely that if you worked at NTCL recently you were given a temporary layoff notice.
These temporary layoff notices were issued 11 days after Kyle Barsi, NTCL's Vice President of Finance, stated in an affidavit that it is highly unlikely that attempts at restructuring or refinancing would save the company, so he clearly believed that these layoffs would be more than temporary.
Coincidentally, under the Canada Labour Code, employees subject to a temporary layoff are not eligible for severance pay until a layoff becomes permanent. If they become permanent, it's likely NTCL won't be around to make those payments, so employees and their families face the possibility of no severance pay and a reduced pension. NTCL has stated that the existence of the pension plan was a significant impediment to finding a buyer to carry on NTCL's business. Many people I've talked to see this as adding insult to injury, and it sounds a bit to me as NTCL's attempt to justify not living up to its obligation.
I'm aware that NTCL is a privately held company and that the GNWT can't bail out every private company that gets into trouble. However, that doesn't mean that we should do nothing to help the employees who have dedicated their lives to that company. We should be taking steps to ensure that the promise made to the people and to the families of the people who have provided a vital service to the North for generations is honoured, and the government should be working to make sure that this doesn't happen to employees in this territory in the future, as well. I'll have questions for the Minister of Finance at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.