Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Minister of Lands spoke in his Minister's statement on what the departments have been working on to serve residents, in the way that best reflects the Northwest Territories' interests and priorities. It talks about Lands and bringing the two Lands acts together. One of the things they talked about was reviewing --

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks, colleagues. She believes that, once the right people are in the right positions, Jean Marie River as a small community can be a leading force in all areas of existence, including climate change, energy efficiency, and health.

Mr. Speaker, as part of the regional leadership, Gladys serves on the Dehcho Executive Committee, Dehcho Education Scholarship Committee, and is the president of the Dehcho Helicopters Limited.

Mr. Speaker, this is just one woman from the region. I encourage women to continue to be the fabric of our society and take on leadership roles...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I spoke about wellness programs and potential wellness days, so I have questions for the Minister of Finance. Can the Minister provide an updated status on the negotiation with the Union of Northern Workers? I know he's made a commitment to meet committee to provide something, but can he give us a general synopsis of this update, please? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe this government recognizes the value and importance of the continued health and wellbeing of their employees. However, these past two years have been difficult ones for the public service. Positions are being eliminated as a result of departmental amalgamations, people are being laid off, and unionized employees have been working without a signed contract for almost a year. As a result, our employees are not feeling good about their relationship with their employer. This needs to be fixed.

Mr. Speaker, wellness is an active process of becoming...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I totally agree that this government has some really good packages, but we are talking about employees’ wellness, and to do that, we are looking at the hours of work. We heard the teachers work 52 hours a week doing their job, but also, I notice that regular workers have 37.5 to 40 hours a week, but they put more hours in. They put more hours into this, so with the cuts and eliminations to positions, and the potential for no raises resulting in the collective bargaining, it is important to show employees that they are valued. Can...

I thank the Minister for his answer. Can the Minister tell us: what does the Government of the Northwest Territories do to help the employees' wellness in the workplace?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues. I have shared these ideas with a number of GNWT employees, including the president of the Union of Northern Workers. I have heard positive support for this approach. I hope the government will give some serious consideration to this proposal. Mr. Speaker, later today I will have questions for the Minister of Finance. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to also recognize Emma Amundson from Fort Simpson and welcome her. There's not too many times you get to have family in here; I'd like to welcome Shirley Kisoun here as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I am happy to hear that we are doing some good stuff for our employees. In my Member’s statement, I talked about the potential for providing five wellness days for Government of the Northwest Territories employees. Has the Government of the Northwest Territories looked to this idea, and will they bring it to the UNW?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we started out on this adventure, looking at the business plans last September, it was about how we could deal with the cuts proposed by the government. We soon realized that we needed to start looking at this process a bit differently, so we focused on strategic investments that would help the NWT.

I would like to thank all Members for all the hard work we put into the 2017-18 budget process, Cabinet and Regular MLAs. I agree with the Finance Minister that Cabinet sort of listened and did listen and then made some of the Regular MLAs' proposed adjustments. These...