Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think what we can all agree on is that the current Public Service Act is a mess. What we do not agree on is the road to fix it.

Nurses have described longstanding internal union governance issues. I believe those concerns to be real. They deserve a solution and to be supported as they find that solution for themselves and, crucially, they need to drive that change. They need to organize.

I believe that the Member for Yellowknife North saw this problem and wants to try her level best to address it; however, what truly needs to happen is something she is restricted from doing, which is to create a labour board or similar statutory body. A labour board has independent processes from this House and its political influence and can uphold public service employees' Charter right to freedom to assemble.

Last Friday, something notable and unique happened. The Minister of Finance and leadership of UNW and PSAC put out a joint press release stating that they intend to work on legislation even while bargaining that will address the longstanding issues of section 41 of the Public Service Act, to enact change that will uphold Charter rights for all public servants.

Nurses have spoken to me and asked me if I supported the draft bill that the MLA put forward or if I support more robust changes to the Act. I have told them that I support robust changes to the Act, including the creation of such a labour board that will provide for them the freedom to collectively choose their own union, as is their right. There is some confusion around why I have said, and continue to say, why it is not right for in I politician to interfere in the bargaining relationship between employees and their employer. Political interference in case law is contemplated at length in other jurisdiction, most commonly when workers are legislated back to work from a strike. I also disagree with that practice for what it's worth.

The NWT is a unique legislative regime where the container is prescribed to public servants on how they bargain in section 41. I also disagree with this. In our context, which is indeed strange and novel, the Member for Yellowknife North is effectively acting as union representation and labour board by proposing these changes as a legislator to legislators. This is not a free and impartial process driven by employees. There is no way to verify that all nurses are being heard effectively through committee processes or participating in the election process she has prescribed in her bill.

When I was a public servant, I only presented to standing committee once after seeking deputy head permission which was granted due to the fact that the issue in question that I was presenting on had nothing to do with my job in the public service. Even if a legislator is acting with the absolute best intentions, which I believe the Member is, I do not feel comfortable giving a legislator the power I've just outlined. This very issue has been discussed in the past of this House, most pertinently in 1990 on the topic of classroom assistant unions.

I could speak at extensive length around my past experiences as a unionized member of the public service and one who was elected to represent her fellow workers, but I am no longer that person. I am a legislator who chooses not to interfere in how workers collectively choose their own path forward. I should note that the Minister of Finance is in an odd by very prescribed position which is whereas that she is both the political representative of the employer and a legislator.

There are checks and balances in the processes that ensure that she does not interfere in bargaining. Last Friday's press release is carefully worded so as not to prescribe an outcome to the work to solve problems with section 41 quite deliberately because that change must be driven by employees. Creating the avenue for independence and choice of bargaining agent belongs in the hands of the workers, and I hope expeditiously a labour board that provides independence and freedom of association. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.