Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I do sincerely hope that public servants don't feel left out. I know there are some and many that do. Mr. Chair, the labour market supplement, it is not a bonus. It was not COVID pay. It was not reflective of folks who I know were working on the front lines during COVID and were often working through very difficult circumstances through COVID. The labour market supplement flows from the labour market supplement policy that was developed to give some parameters in what is a very difficult labour market in all industries, in all professions across all of Canada, and to make sure that we had every possible available tool at our disposal to be able to recruit staff and retain staff in certain positions here in the Northwest Territories. So the policy is really focused on positions that are difficult to staff. And to get into the state of having a labour market supplement applicable meant that the department, in this case it was Health and Social Services that came forward, which, you know, really with the headlines that are coming from across Canada, that probably shouldn't be particularly striking that there are some positions within Health and Social Services that are in particular demand and very difficult post-COVID to be staffing. So they came forward first with their evidence and information about which positions would qualify under the policy for a labour market supplement. There was then the discussions that take place with the union to ensure that, you know, again this is a modification over the agreements that would otherwise normally be in place under a collective agreement, and the discussions that were had in the fall were really because both sides were coming to the table recognizing the urgency of the area.

The benefit to staff, Mr. Chair, is really that when there's more staff there on the floor and available, then that increases the number of people that hopefully decreases people being asked to do overtime, decreases hopefully the number of people that are running double shifts. And that should be hopefully a larger scale benefit. But, Mr. Chair, it's -- it is dependent, if there's going to be another labour market supplement, on another department coming forward and saying that they have that same level and need and meets the policy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.