All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that Members of the Legislative Assembly who hire a constituency assistant who does not have access to health and dental benefits should provide those paid benefits through Northern Employee Benefit Services as part of the constituency assistance employment package. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Every Member of this House is supported in their work by hardworking and dedicated constituency assistants. These employees are the only ones who work in this building without access to health and dental benefits. The motion allows some flexibility to Members who may wish to tailor the work of their assistants to meet their unique circumstances. If adopted, this motion will provide direction to the board of management to negotiate a benefits plan with Northern Employee Benefits Services that both the Member and the constituency assistant will contribute to. Mr. Chair, I support this motion.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I, too, will be in support. I think that a version of this motion comes forward almost every time the independent commission does their review. I am happy that the commission does recognize the efforts that our constituent assistants put in in support of us as Members. All of us, to some degree, would certainly be lost and very much challenged in the day-to-day work that we do on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories if we didn't have the incredible support provided by our constituent assistants, and so, while each constituent assistant's circumstances are different with regard to their hiring arrangements with their particular MLAs, it is still, I believe, incumbent upon this government, in particular the Assembly, to support all staff that supports the work of the day-to-day efforts of the Legislative Assembly. Other than our constituent assistants, virtually everybody has access to these kinds of benefits, and so I think this is long overdue, and I will be in support. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, we have Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have said again, many times, all over the place, that a society is based by how we treat our most vulnerable in society. I came here to advocate for low-income people, and this, in my opinion, fits that model. Our constituency assistants are paid, on average, just above the living wage that was brought out. Thank you to Alternatives North for bringing that out. These people end up being, many of them, not all, but many of them suffer, and dental is a luxury that many people on low income cannot afford, myself included as a single parent. I've never seen a dentist for years and paid the consequence. I support anything that supports the most vulnerable, the lowest-income people in our society. Therefore, I support this motion wholeheartedly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. To the motion. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, along with what my colleague said across the way, I, too, support this. Mr. Chair, we have constituents living in Yellowknife and some who live in the northern part of the territory, where the cost of living is high, while we are sitting here and we are giving chairs of committees raises and we are not covering the simple benefits that any of our employees should have access to. I think we need to really look at that and take a look deeper into the next Assembly to refine it to adjust to the cost of living. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to make it clear that the chairs of committees are not getting a raise as a result of the work that the commission did in this Assembly. There may be a small adjustment at the next Assembly, the Members that serve there, but there is no increases for Members' compensation or benefits that were recommended by the commission. Well, we will see how the rest of the debate plays out, but I do support this motion. I think we need to treat our constituency assistants as valued employees and make sure that they have access to healthcare and other sorts of benefits that are available through the Northern Employee Benefits Services. This is just about being a good employer, and I think we want to make sure that we treat our employees in a manner that they deserve to be treated, so I support this motion. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Next, we have Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think all of my honourable colleagues would agree that our constituency assistants, the people who occupy that role, are very hard-working, capable individuals who are essential to the good functioning of the representation of our constituents. You know, the North often struggles with finding the kind of talent that you need to do well in various professions, whether it is trades or medical or even political work, and being able to provide enhanced benefits and decent wages I think is going to greatly enhance the ability to attract the kind of staff that you need to ensure that, constituency assistants, you are getting the kind of quality you need to have for the best possible service for your constituents. I think this is a very important motion. It is going to help future Assemblies moving forward to attract that talent and to give those workers a greater benefit and greater opportunity as they perform a different kind of public service but no less important than the work of the public service itself. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Next, we have Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, support this motion. I think it is a long time coming. I just wanted to thank the constituency assistants that keep our office operations going. You know, they also serve as the link to our communities and our ridings, so I wanted to say thank you for the constituency assistants who man our offices when we are not there. I think this is just timely, and I support it. It goes a long way in terms of helping our people who work for this institution, and it should have been done years ago. It just helps the small communities, especially the economy where jobs are very hard to come by. For those reasons, I support this step towards bringing benefits to our constituency assistants. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Next, we have Mr. McNeely.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, agree with the motion. I agree with all of the comments from my previous colleagues' statements here. I just wanted to add to this. One of the additional assets that is overlooked by the previous statements is the ability to speak the native language with a lot of the elders and residents in our respective ridings, so that should be recognized, as well. It just makes communication and explanation to a medical assistant or a program assistant that much easier in getting the message of what can be done by our office to the constituents who brought their issues forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. To the motion. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, will be supporting this motion. What we are looking at for a full-time person is about $3,200 a year up, to a family, which is about $5,100 a year, but it comes out of our constituent assistants, or our budgets, which actually are coming out of their help in this, and it is very much needed. We are competing with other jobs that do have benefits that are needed for people to work, and we would like to be able to keep good quality people in place and give them these benefits, as well, so I think this is a good solution to that issue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the current non-taxable allowances (allowance for expenses and entertainment allowance) become accountable allowances.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion. Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, last year, the Government of Canada announced that non-taxable allowances paid to politicians would become taxable as of January 1st this year. Currently, all Members are paid an allowance of roughly $7,500 to cover miscellaneous expenses that are not reimbursable from their constituency budgets. MLAs are constantly called upon to provide financial assistance to constituents, attend public events that charge a fee, purchase raffle tickets, and participate in silent auctions, to name a few items. They are often called upon to buy meals or coffee for constituents or to travel within their constituencies, using their personal vehicles. The fact that these allowances are paid without the need for receipts allows Members to provide unique support services to constituents without breaching confidentiality. In order for these allowances to remain non-taxable, they must become reimbursable only by receipt. This defeats the intended purpose of the allowance.
One alternative to this recommendation is to "gross up" the value of the allowance to make it equivalent on an after-tax basis. This would, however, result in additional costs to the public. Mr. Chair, it is my view that, rather than reduce the flexibility that Members currently have or increase costs, the allowances should remain at their existing levels and be taxed. I will therefore not be supporting this motion. I should note that a second non-taxable allowance is provided to out-of-town Members to reimburse them for the costs of travel to and from work while in the capital as well as other miscellaneous costs associated with running a second residence. I understand that the Speaker is seeking confirmation from the Canada Revenue Agency that this allowance will remain non-taxable. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I find myself in support, and in support of the previous speaker's comments. I feel that we already do have a particular allowance, called the constituency allowance, that is an accountable allowance. That one has very strict rules and guidelines which we have to follow as it relates to expenditures from that account. However, as it relates to what was the non-taxable allowance, having it remain unaccountable or having it not have to hand in receipts, I feel is the proper way in which to manage this. As the previous speaker alluded to, we have a number of requests to support different charities, festivals, even school recreation programs, sporting and recreation events, certain auctions and various fundraisers. I think that those are, by and large, done on the basis of each individual Member's choices, and those organizations that they choose to support are, by and large, their choices. I think Members could be potentially put into an awkward situation if all of a sudden that expenditure becomes public information. Then, Members could possibly start to feel pressure from other organizations, saying, "Well, if you supported them, why don't you support me?" and that sort of thing. I think that that needs to remain the choice of the Members themselves. For those reasons, I will support the motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just to be clear, I support the chair of Caucus' position that we vote against the recommendation, which is what this motion is all about. Right now, these allowances are treated as taxable income. We are now paying taxes on them effective January the 1st. We don't have any choice in that matter. That decision was made for us by Revenue Canada. What the recommendation from the commission was and the motion is is that those allowances now become accountable. I think I've heard from all of the speakers that we don't think that that's a good way to proceed. If that's what you believe in, we should be voting against this recommendation, against the motion. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion?
Question.
Question. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is defeated.
---Defeated
Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just ask my colleagues to bear with me. This is one of these motions which builds on the one before. I move that this Assembly recommends that the current amounts be set at the maximum reimbursable annual amount (allowance for expenses is $7,484 in Yellowknife; $14,968 outside of Yellowknife, and $1,500 entertainment allowance for the Speaker and Ministers). Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Given the defeat of the previous recommendation, this motion is redundant. The amounts for the allowances paid to Members will remain at their current levels and will now be taxable. I will therefore not vote in favour of this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion?
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is defeated.
---Defeated
Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the board of management develop a more detailed policy specific to allowable expenses to ensure clarify for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion? Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, as with the last recommendation, this recommendation is redundant. The expense allowance paid to all Members will remain non-accountable and will become taxable or has become taxable. I will therefore not be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. To the motion?
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is defeated.
---Defeated
Ms. Green.
