This is page numbers 4777 - 4802 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 strike. View the webstream of the day's session.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

There are specific individuals who have been targeted and highlighted as -- I'm blanking on the title of the position. I really apologize. I can't remember the name. They are designated as specific individuals responsible for information.

At the same time, we are also training all of our staff on the rights and responsibilities on privacy. Everybody in the department has been trained. In the territorial authority, we have about 70 percent trained. In Hay River, I think we are at about 40 percent. In Tlicho, we are not quite there. I think we only have about 30 percent trained, but we are working to train everybody regardless of the fact that we have some individuals dedicated with some additional responsibilities to ensure that privacy is maintained and understood when a breach has occurred.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

By no means would I ever assume that any employee would breach confidentiality deliberately. I would like to ask the Minister: is there a follow-up with employees when there are breaches to health information?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

When there is a privacy breach, every breach to date has been actually significantly different than the one before, except for maybe the faxes that were sent prior to the legislation existing, and which is actually one of the main reasons that we moved forward with legislation. I'm sure the Member remembers.

When an incident occurs, it is investigated. If there is employee responsibility, progressive discipline would have been applied appropriately. Additional training might be provided. Every situation is different, Mr. Speaker. We can't paint every one of them with the same brush, but where appropriate, progressive discipline may apply.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister a question on the breaches. When it is a hard copy of a thing, like the box of files, it is easy to say we have recovered them all. Is the Minister confident that information that could be digital or transmitted in various ways have all been recovered? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I'm not 100 percent sure what the Member is asking. If the Member is asking whether or not we have been able to maintain all the files on the Simpson case, we believe we have all the files. When it comes to the USB that was lost, the USB was found. When it comes to the laptop that was stolen, it is our understanding that it wasn't encrypted, which was the problem, but also, based on the fact that the computer never connected to the network, we're not sure, we don't believe that information actually was ever public. It doesn't change our obligation or responsibility to notify our residents when there has been a breach. The laptop was never found. The memory stick was found. I'm not sure if I'm answering the question. I'm not sure I fully understood what the Member was asking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Question 535-18(3): Taltson Project Expansion
Oral Questions

February 8th, 2019

Page 4782

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier in my questions with the Minister of Infrastructure he talked about the 240,000-tonne reductions in greenhouse gas emissions claimed in yesterday's statement about Taltson. Can the Minister provide those calculations publicly and table them in the House for the end of this sitting? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we can do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks very much to the Minister for that commitment. I know that Alberta just went on the market to get some additional power. They spend a billion dollars to get 600 megawatts of wind energy at 3.7 cents/kilowatt hour. We are paying over 23, I think, 24 cents/kilowatt hour here in Yellowknife, so I am trying to figure out the Minister's rationale for saying that Alberta and Saskatchewan are actually going to want to buy our power. We should be actually bringing it up from Alberta. Can the Minister provide some rationale for why he thinks that Alberta and Saskatchewan will actually want to buy our power?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

When you start looking at the whole electrical grid system across North America, which is not connected at this point, actually, the federal government is having a serious look at how they can do that to help make a more stable grid right across the country and share renewables, but the situation with Alberta and Saskatchewan the Member does not bring up is they are on an extensive amount of coal. Both of these provinces have coal generation that they need to get off there to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Both provinces are clearly at the odds right now with the federal government around the climate change strategy. We are committed to fulfilling our obligation, and this is one of the prospects that we need to look at to expand our hydro facility to benefit from it in the most potential way we can.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister for that. Just to be clear, that power in Alberta is wind power. We are not talking about coal-generated. We are talking wind. I do want to ask the Minister: the Indigenous governments that he seems to indicate are on board for Taltson expansion, does that include Deninu Kue First Nation?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

As I mentioned in my statement yesterday and in one of the questions that I answered, I have had discussions with the Akaitcho, which does include Deninu Kue, at the table at that time.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. Has the Minister actually spoken to anybody from the Deninu Kue First Nation about Taltson recently?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

As I said, I stated that I met with the Akaitcho, and the Deninu Kue were there, represented by their leadership, and I had a conversation with all the leaders of the Akaitcho First Nations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, replies to budget address (day 3 of 7). Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of standing and special committees. Item 14, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 15, tabling of documents. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pursuant to section 13(1) of the Natural Resources Conservation Trust Act, I wish to table the following document entitled "The Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund Financial Statements for the year ended March 31, 2018." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the following document, "Employee Acknowledgement & Waiver - Crossing Picket Line." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Tabling of documents. Item 16, notices of motion. Item 17, notice of motion for first reading of bills. Item 18, motions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Union of Northern Workers have been negotiating a collective agreement for the last three years;

AND WHEREAS the Union of Northern Workers and the Government of the Northwest Territories have agreed to mediation scheduled to take place on February 8 and February 9, 2019, in an attempt to reach a collective agreement;

AND WHEREAS the Union of Northern Workers has served the Government of the Northwest Territories with strike notice for 12:01 a.m. on February 11, 2019, in the event that mediation fails;

AND WHEREAS the Union of Northern Workers has agreed to enter into binding arbitration to produce a new collective agreement;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that this Assembly call on the Government of the Northwest Territories to agree to enter into binding arbitration before the scheduled strike begins. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre. To the motion.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am proposing this motion because I believe that entering into binding arbitration is preferable to a strike. If both parties agree to arbitration, then the strike action will be cancelled.

Arbitration acknowledges that collective bargaining has failed, and it provides a path forward to resolve this dispute in a way that is fair to both sides. It allows for the government and the union to save face without the parties calling one another "winners" or "losers."

Mr. Speaker, I have the greatest respect for collective bargaining. My father was a proud member of the trade union for most of his work life. I wrote my Masters' thesis on western Canadian labour history about the appalling working conditions that resulted in hundreds of miners dying in the Crowsnest Pass. I was a member of the union during my 16 years at CBC. In that time, strikes happened on what felt like a regular schedule. When I think about those events at the CBC, I think about the tension of having to cross the picket line because my union was not on strike. I remember a riot at the broadcast centre in Toronto at the end of one of those strikes, where there was a brawl in the atrium and police outside on horseback. It was ugly.

Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife has its own tragic experience with strikes. I am of course talking about the labour dispute at the Giant Mine. I did not live here then, but what happened in Yellowknife was news everywhere. Labour action polarized the community. People threw punches, ended friendships, and moved away. I got to witness the fallout while I was a reporter covering the civil trial in 2003-2004. Widows and mothers talked about their lost husbands and sons, their lives broken and unable to mend without them. At the trial, union members watched video of the mayhem on the picket line and said they did not recognize themselves as those angry, volatile people of 10 years earlier. They told the judge they said and did things in the heat of the moment that they still regretted.

My point is that strikes can be dangerous because stakes are high, tempers flare, and the results are unpredictable. We have already seen the tension rising. The union served legal strike notice. Government put out an email to staff highlighting the possibility of crossing the picket line. The union confronted the Premier at his constituency meeting. Most recently, the government has distributed a waiver for people to sign who want to cross the picket line. It's easy to see how confrontation on the picket line is not just likely, it is inevitable.

Mr. Speaker, I have had dozens of emails and messages supporting the union's request for binding arbitration. One woman is a single mom, a relief worker with two part-time jobs. She is struggling to keep up with her bills. She is asking for an end to casual positions so that she has job security. Another woman has talked about the need to end the widespread use of casual and term positions in order to build up a permanent northern workforce.

I am touched that people have shared their personal circumstances with me and their belief that I, that all of us, can help them by supporting this motion. I believe that, of all of the communities, Yellowknife has the most to lose if there is a strike. We have the biggest number of workers who are eligible to strike, and we have the largest retail sector. A strike is bad news in every way. At a minimum, it will divide the community and put families on the financial ropes. I have also heard from people who are not members of the union, but who are worried about their small businesses, specifically that a strike will dry up consumer spending and result in them laying off staff or even closing shop. Mr. Speaker, there is no upside to a strike; none at all.

Mr. Speaker, I want to make a couple of points that may be obvious to us as MLAs, but may not be clear to the public. The first is that this motion is legal, and what it is requesting is legal. The Public Service Act does not say anything about arbitration in these circumstances, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. The union did not give up the ability to participate in arbitration when they acquired the right to strike. The two are not mutually exclusive.

The starting point for arbitration is to have the GNWT and the Union of Northern Workers agree between themselves to enter binding arbitration, and they can do this at any point. In fact, they could decide to do it today as a backstop to the possibility that mediation doesn't produce an agreement this weekend. The rules of arbitration would be set by the parties themselves, and they would agree on the choice of the arbitrator. As I said earlier, once the parties agree to arbitration, the strike action is cancelled.

To clear up any confusion around the issue of whether the union has formally requested arbitration, the president of the union wrote a letter to the Minister of Finance this week requesting the government to agree to enter binding arbitration. We are waiting for the Minister to respond.

Mr. Speaker, these negotiations have gone on for far too long. Negotiations began in January of 2016, and while the two sides met frequently through that year and in 2017, there was only one negotiation session last year. It's hard to say what mediation produced in the fall, except an agreement to meet again this weekend.

I haven't given up hope that an agreement is still possible. I encourage both parties to put aside the escalating tensions of this week, and work hard to get an agreement through mediation. It is the last opportunity to negotiate an agreement that both parties have a say in. If that fails, binding arbitration moves everything to a third party, and he or she will decide on the concessions. There are no guarantees that either side will get what they want, but this process is preferable to a strike.

Mr. Speaker, I am aware that this motion is not binding on the government even if all Regular MLAs vote for it, but it important for us to provide advice to this government. We have the right as MLAs to speak on any topic in this House, especially on one of the biggest issues of our Assembly. We are not interfering. We are doing our jobs. I truly believe that a strike would be a disaster for Yellowknife, for our families and friends, for our communities and our territory, and that's what I've heard from constituents throughout the last few days.

Colleagues, I urge each and every one of you to support this motion, and bring the possibility of a strike to an end before it starts. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.