Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? Motion passed.
Carried
Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 8.2(7) and to have Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council, moved to the Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. The Member is asking unanimous consent to move Bill 1 into the Committee of the Whole. Any nays? Seeing no nays.
Member from Yellowknife Centre sorry.
Thank you. I'd like to call committee to order. I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee would like to consider Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Does the committee agree?
Question.
Okay, thank you. We'll resume after a short 30minute recess. Thank you.
SHORT RECESS
Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. I'll be asking I'll ask the sponsor of the bill, the Member of Yellowknife Centre, to introduce the bill.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to speak to Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, in my capacity as a Member of the Board of Management.
In the previous Assembly, changes were made to the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act to adjust pay by the average percentage increase or decrease in the consumer price index for Canada in a period of five years. This bill aligns the maximum amounts allowed annually for Members' expenses to the same consumer price index to make sure the act is uniformly using the same measurements. That concludes my remarks on Bill 1. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member of Yellowknife Centre. Member, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Okay, sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers. Members, please introduce yourself and your witnesses. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to my left is the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Rutland; and, to my right is deputy clerk, Ms. Wickens.
I will now open the floor for general comments on Bill 1. Members may speak up to ten minutes at a time. Anyone any Members want to speak up? We got a Member that's going to speak up so make sure I get this right. Member from Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for Mr. Hawkins and the staff. Why the change to the why the change to the bill was made, if you can explain that?
Thank you. I will move to the Member of Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the question. I believe if I have it correctly, the change is to bring consistency over a fiveyear period that reflect the consumer price index. If it went year by year, it would be influenced by major spikes, be it up and down, therefore this brought longerterm consistency. I look to the I look to the clerk for maybe some further explanation beyond that.
Thank you. Meanwhile we'll go to Mr. Rutland.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the changes were first made for this current fiscal year to the legislation last year. There's two provisions in the bill that needed to be changed. One related to the indemnity paid to Members and one related to the allowances. The change regarding the allowances was missed last year. So this will but what was actually the allowances provided to Members was based on the fiveyear average so this catches that. And then it also sets the MLA pay and indemnities for 20242025 beginning April 1st based on the fiveyear formula.
Thank you, Mr. Rutland. I'm going to go back to the Member from Nunakput.
My second question to the Member and the staff is it consistent with like collective agreements and what the CPI increase would be with collective agreements; is there consistency with that?
Good question. I'll go to Member of Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Member. I believe if I understand it correctly, most of this is set by the independent commission and given the direction to the Assembly on that. If I need a further there is maybe one further comment provided by our clerk who can elaborate. Thank you.
Mr. Rutland.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the independent commission makes recommendations to the Legislative Assembly. The recommendation was that Members receive a CPI increase annually. Members in the 19th Legislative Assembly decided to change the legislation such that it would be a fiveyear average of CPI. At the time, the CPI increase would have likely resulted in about a 7 percent increase. But by doing a fiveyear average, it brought it down to, I believe, about 3.8. 3.34, sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Rutland. I'm going to go back to the Member from Nunakput.
I have no further questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Is there any further comments from Members? I'm going to go to Mr. or sorry, hang on. I want to get this right.
Member of Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on the question asked by my colleague from Nunakput. She asks whether it aligned with the collective agreement of the public service and so I just wanted to get some clarification on that.
Thank you for your question. I'm going to go to the Member of Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate the question from the Member just to further clarify. It does not. This guidance has been this guidance is offered and given by the independent review committee and passed on to the Assembly for final direction.
I'm going to go back to the Member of Frame Lake. No further questions? Any further comment from the MLAs, Members? I'm going to go to the Premier. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the salary of MLAs is something that's been an issue in every Assembly I've been in. It's always a political issue. And part of the reason, from my understanding, that it's not tied to any sort of a negotiated contract, a collective agreement, is because we don't want our salaries we don't want any skin in the game when we're in those negotiations. It wouldn't make sense. I don't think it's good practice to basically be negotiating our own salaries. So I think that is the rationale for the exclusion. So, thank you.
Thank you to the Premier for your clarification. Any further comments from the Members? I'll go to Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not a question but a comment. It is my understanding, for further clarity on a political matter of us discussing our own salaries, that sorry, one of the sections is actually tied to the collective agreement. The northern allowance section copies what the public servants receive depending on their community of origin or community of work, and it is my understanding that in the past MLAs have made the decision collectively to restrain their income based on the fact that public servants were not given percentage increases. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your comment as well. Is there any further Members from the Assembly that have general comments? Okay, thank you. Doesn't look like there was anybody putting their hands up. Thank you.
Is the committee agreed that there are no further general comments? Committee, we'll thank you.
Does the committee agree to proceed to a clause by clause the review of the bills? Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay. Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses.
Please return to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 2, does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 3, does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 4, does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree?
Agreed.
That Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, is now ready for third reading. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Does the committee agree that concludes our consideration of Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act; does the committee agree?
