Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 12-18(3) asked by the Member for Frame Lake on June 1, 2018 to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment regarding Ekati mine layoffs.

I am pleased to provide to you with the following information to address the questions asked:

To date, no workers have been laid off and as announced on June 26, 2018, Dominion Diamond and the Union of Northern Workers have come to a tentative agreement that will keep the workers on staff with the mine.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment met with Dominion Diamond in mid-June 2018 and encouraged the company to continue meeting with the Union of Northern Workers to address the issue. Dominion Diamond has ensured that it and its contractors will continue to strive to meet its Socio-Economic Agreement northern employment targets.

The Government of the Northwest Territories understands that there has been an issue with absenteeism at the Ekati Mine. Employee absenteeism has led to lost productivity and increased costs due to overtime payments for those at site and contractor expenses.

With the issue tentatively resolved, currently there is no expected loss of tax revenue or Gross Domestic Product. Initially, Dominion Diamond had issued a Request for Proposal for a contractor and it was expected that the majority of those impacted would have been hired by the contractor, meaning no loss of 150 jobs.

Details of the new tentative agreement have not been disclosed to the Government of the Northwest Territories, however, in a joint statement by Dominion Diamond and the Union of Northern Workers, it was stated that both parties' concerns have been addressed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.