Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources what the intention is for providing whistleblower protection for our public servants. Previously, the department has committed to both standalone legislation and to updating the Public Service Act to contain this provision. So what is the intention? Are we going forward with a standalone Whistleblower Protection Act, or are we simply making changes to the Public Service Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
That legislation will be part of the Public Service Act.
Thank you to the Minister for clarifying. When can honourable Members expect to see a legislative proposal or some work on that? I, of course, assume that will go to committee, but when can we start to see progress on that? I think it's very important that we allow our public servants to feel protected when they see concerns, and also that they can speak their minds to elected officials whenever they have a concern.
It's a massive piece of legislation, and we can expect to see that, the LP, during the third quarter of the 18th Assembly.
Thank you. Just for clarification, was the Minister referring to the third quarter or the third year of the Legislative Assembly?
It's the same thing. Yes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, and thank you for the clarification. Given that this is a massive piece of legislation and this is a really important step in the transparency commitments this government has made, is there any way to split this work out and move it ahead on its own?
I'm concerned that, if there is a legislative delay, sometimes these very large bills take a lot of time from our government and are delayed until future Assemblies. So is there a way to expedite this process by moving the whistleblower protections out into their own legislation, and is the Minister willing to -- sorry, that's two questions, so I'll just go with that. Thank you.
As far as splitting it out, the legislation is all connected. So we can do it quickly or we can do it right, and we want to make sure that we do this right. We will come forward to committee with an LP probably by about the third year of this Assembly, and they will have an opportunity to review it and we'll go forward from there.
If the Member is concerned about the safe disclosure, my understanding is there is a Safe Disclosure Policy that was done, I think, in concern with the UNW, so that is there. So we'll continue to work on the LP, and when we have it ready to go then we will have a conversation with committee and seek their input as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
