Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources. It’s going to reflect on the Member’s statement I made earlier in terms of the northern living allowance. I’d like to ask the Minister, first and foremost, the question that we know that negotiations between the GNWT and the Union of Northern Workers is done on an annual basis, and whether or not the negotiations are positive or negative or they’re even concluded to, so I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources if the northern living allowance rates for the 2014-2015 year were not agreed to, would the rates have stayed the same as 2013-2014?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a negotiated item, as the Member indicated. A negotiated item between the northern union workers and the Government of the Northwest Territories. It’s based on a methodology of comparing costs to Yellowknife. It’s based on transportation and the cost of living components. As we get the consumer price index and the cost of transportation, using the methodology predetermined between the union and the Government of the Northwest Territories, we set the northern living allowance.
I do know the answer that the Minister has given; it was also something that I had stated in my Member’s statement earlier today. I asked the question if it was not agreed to. When you’re going to negotiations, both parties need to agree on the end product, so the GNWT seeing, when they look at some of these numbers, we have four communities who have lost over $1,000, decreased over $1,000, and in one community in the case decreased by $2,628. That’s almost two paycheques for somebody that might be in a low-level paying job.
I’d like to ask the Minister, again, if these were not agreed to, would the rates have stayed the same as the previous year of 2013-2014, and why was it not red flagged when we see these numbers?
I should have been clearer in my response. I apologize for that. What I was indicating was that it is a negotiated item, so it was agreed to. The methodology was agreed to and it’s been left up to the Government of the Northwest Territories to do the annual adjustments. The northern living allowance was not an item that was on the negotiating table. The last time we negotiated an agreement with the Union of Northern Workers, they felt that they were more interested in the salary portion of it, the increase in the salaries, and they were satisfied with how the northern living allowance was being paid out, and they were satisfied with the methodology, which we are continuing to apply. If the union, which we are going to be going back to the table at the next agreement, indicates to us that yes they definitely want to renegotiate the northern living allowance or the methodology that we’re using such as adding other components to the cost of northern living, then that is something that would go into the negotiation mandate from them and we would respond accordingly. Thank you.
I want to speak to the community of Inuvik and the decrease in $383. Although it’s lower than most of the other communities that decreased, coming from Inuvik, we know the utilities are a lot higher than what they were in previous years and that $383 does help out the middle-income family. That’s two weeks of groceries right there, or even paying utilities. We’ve got residents who are going on payment plans to pay utilities, yet we are decreasing the northern living allowance in those communities. I did ask the Minister why this was not red flagged and not agree until something could be adjusted in these negotiations.
Obviously, when we look at Section 41.(7) of the Public Services Act, I’d like to ask the Minister, will amendments be made to this section of the act to adjust such things as the high cost of fuel, as mentioned earlier by some of my colleagues, in the smaller communities and have that adjusted? Are amendments going to be forthcoming to this act, specifically to section 41.(7) of the Public Services Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are no planned amendments to that specific section of the Public Services Act, the section that indicates that the Collective Agreement will not deal directly or indirectly with any payments that relate to owner occupied rent space. Anything to do with the cost of housing is not a part of this agreement, so there is no plan to amend that. We are bringing the Public Services Act forward for a couple of minor amendments at this time. If committee wishes to expand upon the review of the Public Services Act, I am sure the department would be willing to have that discussion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not there is anything this government can do right now to go back to the table and renegotiate the rights that came out of the 2014-2015 northern living allowances in Inuvik. The $383 decrease did bring a lot of people’s concerns forward to my office. I know that’s only $383 and there are smaller communities with higher decreases. I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now.
Is there anything we can do to go back to the table and revisit this, renegotiate the 2014-2015 northern living allowance rates of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I indicated to the Member, I am sure that if the northern union wanted to put this on the table the next time around, it would be something that government would certainly discuss. At this time there’s a pre-determined agreement on the methodology that we’ve applied. We’ve applied the methodology to 22 of the 34 communities that are under this agreement and have increased. So we must recognize that this was a give and take and that there are some increases and some decreases. I also recognize that the cost is high, but this is something again that was pre-determined, agreed to the methodology. So I’m sure the northern union is listening to our debate and if they want to put that on the table as one of the items in the negotiating mandate, then GNWT again would be prepared to talk about that item as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
