Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister believe that, at this point, new direction is required, either a new strategy, either a new leader for that team? It just seems like things are at an impasse, and I am fearful to gamble on optimism at this point.

I appreciate the Minister's optimism. I have been optimistic for three years, and now we are at a really very dangerous situation for bringing additional division into our communities. Mr. Speaker, I asked about information the government is providing. The Minister spoke of an email he sent out earlier in question period, and he said that he'd read the email and it did not seem to inflame tempers. I have the text of the email, and it says "unionized employees who are considering coming to work during job action are encouraged to discuss their choice with their union representative," and then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are any number of issues I could bring to the House today, but there is one pressing issue that I'm sure we're all aware of, and that is the ongoing dispute over the collective agreement between the GNWT and its workforce.

Mr. Speaker, these employees are our friends and neighbours. The financial uncertainty that it is causing not just for the workforce, public servants who are tireless providing our high-quality public services to the people of the Northwest Territories; it is additionally causing uncertainty for the business community, for private...

What I meant in my Member's statement is that I should have been asking these questions three years earlier because the Minister has not led this process to a successful resolution. The Minister has led this process to a potential strike. So what is he doing, what actions, how is he approaching this differently, to result in a fair deal for northern workers?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the concern around a strike action is that, if the mediation process on the weekend does not go well, it will be a strike come Monday. We have an opportunity to stop that from happening by agreeing to binding arbitration before they get to the table. Is the Minister willing to consider that to prevent any potential for a strike, to cut it off from happening at all? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's offer, and I don't want to appear ungenerous, but I am not raising this because I am having trouble understanding. I am raising this because the public looking at this is having trouble understanding, and they don't have the benefit of being able to sit down with the Minister and his department to parse this out. Can the Minister commit to, again, providing clearer information or a clear cost accounting of how they came to this figure, which, again, represents a 50 percent increase from base pay, which I think is hard for a lot of our...

The fact, as I see it in this document, is that, when an employee would start at $60,000, in five years they would be making $72,000. Again, that is not a $30,000 increase. Why is this information on the government website when it is hard to understand, paints a picture of an overly generous benefit from what is being presented to the public, and prevents the public from clearly understanding what is on offer?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Sean Whitcomb, chief steward of UNW Local 3. Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, that, pursuant to rule 36(3), the Minister's statement delivered previously by the Honourable Premier, February 2019 Sessional Statement, be moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Chair rise and report progress. Thank you.