Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 32, an Act to Amend the Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act .

The Northern Employee Benefits Pension Services Pension Plan Act, or NEBS, is a defined benefit pension plan that operates in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. NEBS provides pension services for municipal, local housing authority, and non-profit sectors in both jurisdictions. In 2015, each jurisdiction adopted mirror legislation to formally establish the pension plan.

The NEBS pension plan has been in existence, in one form or another, for over 40 years. Broadly speaking, NEBS pension plan is self-regulating, meaning government provides minimal oversight of the day-to-day operations of the pension plan, and the pension plan is administered by the NEBS Pension Committee for the benefit of plan Members.

This bill is intended to address administrative and regulatory issues that have arisen since the act was proclaimed and to ensure that the legislative framework will support continued growth and management of the NEBS pension plan.

The proposed amendments to the act were developed through an extensive collaborative process involving both the NEBS Board of Directors and the Government of Nunavut.

The proposed amendments under Bill 32 involve four distinct changes:

• First, redefine and name the pension committee as the legal authority responsible for operation and management of the NEBS pension plan;
• Second, changes to the composition of the pension committee to provide more flexibility with respect to the number of Members representing, first, the interest of employers and, second, the interests of individual plan members;
• Third, an expansion of the power that the pension committee has with respect to implementing policies and procedures required for proper administration of the pension plan. The Minister responsible for the Act will also receive a new power to regulate the scope and reach of the proposed new policies and procedures; and,.
• Fourth, a new regulatory power will be provided to the Minister responsible for the Act to approve temporary measures necessary to permit a timely response to a crisis or emergency that could imperil the financial standing of the pension plan and negatively affect the benefit security of its members.

This proposed new power is based on similar provisions contained in the federal Pension Benefits Standards Act.

Finally, these proposed amendments to the Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act will not require any consequential amendments to any other GNWT statutes. That concludes my opening remarks, Madam Chair. Thank you.