Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity on our second day of session to congratulate the Minister of Housing and Minister responsible for Seniors on the one year anniversary of the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the seniors home in Fort Good Hope that they both were at on February 16th, 2021, Mr. Speaker.

The opening of this seniors home addressed one of the priorities set out by the 19th Assembly of seniors aging in place. I was happy to hear of its opening, and I am sure many of the seniors in the region were happy to have a facility built for them to reside in and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have one question today for the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment who is in charge of their Employment Standards Act, and if he says yes, everyone can feel free to go home. Will the Minister make today a statutory holiday, Family Day, for the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the people of New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC, I would like to wish a happy Family Day. And to the people of Manitoba, a happy Louis Riel Day. And to the people of PEI, a happy Islander Day. And to Nova Scotia, a happy Heritage Day. And for everyone in the NWT, I'm hoping you're having an all right Monday, Mr. Speaker.

Laughter

I'm glad the sun is finally poking its head out because it's been a long winter, and we are looking forward to spring, that magical season where the public health emergency ends, Mr. Speaker. This is the longest period of time between statutory holidays in the north, and with cold months, it just makes it feel even longer. Let's give our workers a much needed break, Mr. Speaker. I've asked the minister previously if there was ever any intention in bringing a holiday to the people of the north in February, and Mr. Speaker, I will be asking him once again on this lovely Family Day. And to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect there's a much larger conversation here about the appropriateness of NDAs in society generally and with the government, you know, sometimes ask for NDAs when perhaps the victim does not even want them. But I guess I'll go to settlement agreements that are contract disputes, I know in the past they have had confidentiality requirements, which I think if we're paying out millions of dollars of public money in some sort of construction dispute, we should have a principle that there isn't one so that when I see that money in a corresponding budget or a public...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll have questions at another time about if we can somehow perhaps take what's filed in the courts and get it somewhat public. I know there's some tension in doing that with matters before the courts. But I guess I want to talk about after that process.

You know, none of us want to see a $100 million all of a sudden show up in our budget. If we do settle these, and I assume we'll settle them for much less than that, does that get reported publicly anywhere, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I guess my next question is as part of the review of the Employment Standards Act, is that information the department could try and find out; could we engage with some of the small businesses who are not offering paid sick days and see kind of where we are at in order to close this gap? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I do believe that there's a much larger conversation to happen; if we're going do this, you know, how many paid sick days. Are they funded like vacation pay? Is there some GNWT contribution? There's a lot of different ways this can look. But when we do a comparison of currently unpaid sick days in the Northwest Territories, it's clear our employment standards is below average of what other jurisdictions. Is this something the Minister is also willing to look at, is increasing the guaranteed number of unpaid leave days? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In writing this statement, apparently I missed the memo that it was Christmas day. But what I would like to see for Christmas, Mr. Speaker, is some paid sick days for the working poor, Mr. Speaker. People shouldn't have to pick between staying home while they are sick or being able to afford rent and groceries. In fact, we know presenteeism is one of the reasons COVID is spread in workplaces throughout this pandemic. The feds have recently introduced changes to the Canada Labor Code that guarantees 10 days of paid sick leave to all workers in federally regulated areas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know in the past, both by myself and by the media, there have been questions about, you know, when we do settle cases what happened, what lessons, and there's kind of been this tension and resistance to not answer them. Sometimes I have caught them in the specific department's public accounts or a supplemental appropriation if it's significant enough and they can't find it internally. I know that happened with the Norman Wells Health Centre as an example. But can I just get some clarification of when we can't answer questions about public money that has been settled...