Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. What we can do is just take a break and then, when the witnesses arrive, we can continue.

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Thank you, Members. I would like to call the Committee of the Whole to order. To start off with, thank you Mr. Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I would.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, could you please escort the witnesses into the Chamber, please. Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Bronwyn Watters, who is the deputy minister of Human Resources, and on my right, Michelle Simpson, who is the director of corporate affairs.

We will now proceed to consider the detail for the Department of Human Resources. I will move on to this one. We will defer departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning at page 210. Human Resources, active position summary, information item, do we have any questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is the right section. I'm just wondering if our witnesses can tell us what's happening with safe disclosure legislation, which is also known as whistle-blower protection. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have a safe disclosure policy in place that was negotiated with the UNW, and they are part of the review committee on that. When that agreement was put in place, we did indicate that we were going to move forward with some safe disclosure legislation here in the Northwest Territories. We did not move forward with that in the last government. We were monitoring the effectiveness of the safe disclosure policy that we did put in place, and we had very, very few individuals who actually took up and utilized that policy. It doesn't mean we don't need the legislation, and what we are doing moving forward is we are incorporating the safe disclosure legislation within the new Public Service Act which is being worked on currently in the Department of Human Resources. So it will all be part of one act as opposed to two separate acts.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So when can we expect to see the amendments to the Public Service Act come forward? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a significant piece of legislation requiring a significant amount of work. It will be done in the life of this government. We don't anticipate getting it in front of the House until 2018, which will allow us the time required to get this act into a modern state. In the meantime, with respect to safe disclosure, we do have the safe disclosure policy that was designed in cooperation with UNW for individuals who wish to disclose information or have concerns about things they see within the public service, so 2018.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. We'll look forward to that in 2018. I had one other matter I wanted to pursue. It's the Safe Advantage program, which I think is run through our Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission. I think, overall, GNWT has had some problems with our compliance and ratings and have had to pay a number of fines in the past as a result of, I guess, our not very good performance. So what kind of assurance can the Minister provide? Or tell us what's happening in terms of the Safe Advantage program. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are committed to a safe workplace for all of our staff. Our people are our most valuable asset, and we need to make sure that they are working in safe environments. To that end, the Department of Human Resources does provide assistance to all the departments who have established individual occupational health and safety committees throughout most of the work sites and most of the departments through the GNWT, most of the departments, not necessarily every work site.

I can tell you that through the Safe Advantage program there have been years where we have got fines. There was, when the program was first put in place, we got fined a number of years in a row. The fines are dependent on a couple of things. They are dependent on our claims history over a given year. They are dependent upon how we respond to a questionnaire that is provided to us, and our claims history, and then also a site visit or a telephone call to a location. I can tell you that for this year we have passed, and there is no claim or no fine going to be levelled against the Government of the Northwest Territories. I believe last year we were also fine free. But we have had years where we have been fined, and this is something that the Department of Human Resources as well as every other department in the Government of the Northwest Territories must stay on top of, must ensure that we do have the safe work sites that we want for our employees.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's certainly good news to hear that we passed this year and that there were no fines because, of course, as we want to set a good example as one of the main employers in the Northwest Territories and particularly as a public government. I presume that there's some sort of report that will come through this evaluation. Can the Minister commit to provide that report to the House? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do get a report and a summary from the WSCC, who is administering the Safe Advantage program? I can say that this year we actually did pretty good with respect to our results. We compiled its March 2015-16 management questionnaire and submitted a response: 92 per cent on part one and 100 per cent on part two. So we did pretty good and we did all right on the interview, which resulted in no fine. We will provide the report, when we get it, to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I think it's good that the report will be provided to committee, but I guess I'm hoping that the Minister will commit to table the document in the House. I think we want to show that we're leading by example, so I'd ask if he could table the report in the House. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister.