Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a contract is in place with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority and the board that is the employer. That’s been in place and that has been honoured. They’ve waited for a conclusion to this. Of course, we are dealing with a separate employer dealing with their employees. From my standpoint, it’s to honour the initial contract with the society that’s delivering that service. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of any situation where we’ve had a group of employees working that are represented by a union that does not have an agreement in place. I don’t have any of that information available. As for the tabling of the contract, I would have to work with the department to see if we could do that. So I will have a look at it, but I can’t make that commitment at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess, for clarity, it should be pointed out that as this originally came about with the existing action being taken, discussions were held and parties were encouraged. I believe there were even parties brought in to try to have both sides come to an agreement. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen so they are back at the stage they are. For ourselves, we contracted the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority to provide that service. From my understanding, there is no contravention of that agreement in place for delivery of services. Ultimately...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services' budget was prepared with the allocations available and the forced growth that was agreed to in a previous budget cycle for this fiscal year. For the upcoming fiscal year, I have not been provided any details if there are any changes to that. Of course, when you are speaking from one union to another, the comparability of benefits can be quite significantly different and that’s something that always has to be taken into consideration when we enter into these discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ultimately the Department of Health and Social Services has to take very highly into consideration the clients who are seeking the help, the situation that is over at Nats'ejee K'eh on the Hay River Reserve is not one that we like to see continue for very long. That is why I have written a letter to both parties to hopefully encourage them to get back to the negotiation process. Ultimately, this process falls outside of our own union process. It falls under the Canada Labour Code. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today to attend the Council of the Federation Energy Committee meeting in Montreal, Quebec. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have tried to state earlier, the situation we find ourselves in is a difficult one. Our goal is to ensure those that were receiving services continue to receive those services and people who request services around the addiction area can get support. We are looking at that. We will continue to help them out. As for the facility in the Northwest Territories, we are going to work with them to the extent we can, encouraging them to get back to the table. Ultimately, we have a number of things that have to be looked at. The fact is that there is an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we were given notice that the strike action could possibly be taking place, the department made the decision to move the existing clients out. It was discussed with the clients if they wanted to travel back to their home communities or continue on in another location with their programming. All of the clients that were in the facility chose to continue with their programming. That is what we did. So the notice was very short. We felt that it was in their best interest at that time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of lieu time within our government service operations throughout the Northwest Territories has been looked at. We have worked with all departments. All departments are treating this somewhat differently. It goes to show, once again, that the need for a clearer human resource plan was required. We have now tried to bring some consistency back to the table looking at operational requirements, and the funding available to ourselves as a government came up with what we felt at this time was the best solution. So although the Member is requesting...