This is page numbers 4215 - 4241 of the Hansard for the 18th 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 going.

Topics

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I appreciate that we are all working under some timelines here with this, but if we don't get an LP until early next year, I'm worried that this not going to happen in time for June 1, 2019, but I want to move on.

The last areas, as I understand, that may need some changes with regard to coordination of our parental benefits with the new federal program changes will be in the area of collective agreements. Changes to collective agreements may also be needed to fully protect the position or job until an employee returns from parental leave. Can the Minister explain what steps our government is taking to change collective agreements in light of the new federal employment insurance changes in parental benefits?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

My understanding is that negotiations are currently under way. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to discuss them on the floor of this House at this moment.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President, and I thank the Minister for that. There are negotiations going on, but it takes two to tango, and I'm sure if our government were to come to the table and with an offer to deal with this even in advance of the overall package, that would probably be much appreciated.

I would like to know, though: how will the Minister and our government as a whole communicate these changes in parental benefits under our jurisdiction to the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

It's really important, actually, when we make changes to the Employment Standards Act that the public is notified of them. They impact everyone, workers and employers together. We are committed that we will do a full communications layout. We will be putting ads in the newspapers to engage employers, stakeholders in the consultation process. We will be posting it on our Facebook, on our website. Once the changes are made, if changes are made, then we will actually be doing the same again, posting them in the newspaper, trying to engage them as much as possible. I would appreciate if MLAs are willing to help as well by posting them on their sites as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, I have heard a number of constituents who are government employees have come to me about concern with special leave. In my past experience working for the government, I understood it was for, you know, death, marriage, weather, and mechanical issues. Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion about how it is implemented.

Mr. Speaker, does the department have a policy that supervisors can use to help them implement special leave? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, situations that qualify for extensive special leave provisions are set out in the collective agreements in detail. There is no additional government policy on administering special leave. We pay our managers to manage. There is some discretion that they should be able to use, so there are no additional policies on special leave. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that answer. I agree that we know we hire managers to manage, but we sometimes need to have some clarity on how this is implemented. Can the Minister advise us if these supervisors are trained on how to implement special leave?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Questions regarding the application of special leave are covered with supervisors during the labour relations training sessions. Any supervisor can contact their human resource client service manager for advice if they receive a request to access special leave.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Minister, for that answer. At least we have some process to it, and I appreciate that. Mr. Speaker, in the High Arctic or in the North, we do have problems with mechanical. Would this be considered special leave?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Employees can be eligible for up to five days of special leave with pay where special circumstances prevent the employee from reporting to work. A list of examples is provided within the collective agreement, but that list is not exhaustive. Each situation must be assessed on its facts to determine whether or not the employee is eligible.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Can the Minister please advise: should a manager implement it and say no, is there an appeal process so that individuals can move it up the chain? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Special leave already exists to address various circumstances. The managers, as I said in responding to question number one, the managers are paid to manage and they need some discretions to have at their disposal.

As far as the appeal process goes, I'm sure they can appeal to higher up if they feel that they have not been fairly dealt with. Sometimes, they go as far as the MLAs in the Minister's office. They do have people who they can talk to if they feel that they have been unfairly treated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. At this point in the life of the 18th Assembly, we ought to be able to see clear results from the success of the mandate based on the work of the Executive Council, yet our economic and social realities are far from ideal. The mandate of the 18th Assembly was designed to address these issues, and yet little more than a third of total mandate commitments are substantially completed.

Although the Premier calls this "good progress," many of my honourable friends on this side of the House would disagree. Can the Premier explain why so little progress has been made on implementing the mandate of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have hoped the honourable Member would have been listening intently when I delivered my sessional statement, where I said we made substantial progress. In the statement, and I'll repeat it for the Member, at least I said that 103 commitments had been totally fulfilled. We have 127 commitments in progress, and we expect to have them all addressed by the end of the 18th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

I did listen intently to the Honourable Premier. In fact, I changed my question to incorporate his good progress remarks.

Mr. Speaker, the numbers that we gleaned from business planning was 37 per cent. I did the math of the Premier's numbers of around 44 per cent. Does the Premier truly believe he can accomplish more than the 50 per cent of the mandate commitments in one year?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Yes, we have reviewed them. We reviewed them this morning. They are well in progress, and many of them are ongoing commitments, so I fully expect that the majority, if not all of them, will be done by the end of this term.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

According to our processes here, what we learned in business plans stays in business plans, so I'm not allowed to provide much detail, but I know for a fact that some of these mandate commitments are shifting, changing, and we have had good indication that some of them will be abandoned. Can the Premier speak to that? If he's now saying they are all going to be complete, are his Ministers on the same page? Or is the Premier providing new direction to his Cabinet at this point in time?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

This government has been fully transparent in everything that we have done. We have tabled three reports, including the 2016-2017 annual report on March the 3rd and two progress reports in June and September. We also will be tabling another annual report for the 2018-2019 fiscal year after March 31, 2019. As well, a final report on the Government of Northwest Territories' progress on the mandate before the end of the term of the 18th Legislative Assembly.

Not only the Members are on that side, but everybody in the Northwest Territories can see for themselves the amount of work that this government has done and how much we have accomplished.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.