Government Operations

Seeking Input on Bill 26

MLAs on the Government Operations Committee want to hear from you as part of their review of Bill 26: An Act to Amend the Public Service Act.

This private Member’s bill put forward by Shauna Morgan, MLA for Yellowknife North, provides a process for nurses who are currently members of the main GNWT bargaining unit to have a separate bargaining unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. The bill sets out a process to certify and decertify a separate bargaining unit for unionized public sector nurses in the NWT. Currently, the Public Service Act establishes bargaining units for teachers, employees of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and all other employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Public Service Act specifies that public sector nurses are represented in collective bargaining by the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) as part of the main GNWT bargaining unit.

A proposal for the Bill prepared by MLA Morgan, the bill’s sponsor, is available here.

Livestreams of previous Committee hearings on this bill:

• June 19, 2025: MLA Shauna Morgan, sponsor of the bill, and individual nurses (slideshow presentation here).
• July 15, 2025: Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance (slideshow presentation here).
• August 28, 2025: Megan Wood, CEO & Registrar, College and Association of Nurses of the NWT and Nunavut (slideshow presentation here)
• August 29, 2025: Gayla Thunstrom, President, Union of Northern Workers (slideshow presentation here)
• September 10, 2025: Josée-Anne Spirito, Regional Executive Vice President, Public Service Alliance of Canada North (slideshow presentation here)
• September 19, 2025: Sara-Jayne Dempster, President, Northern Territories Federation of Labour
• September 23, 2025: public meeting

Committee presented a report on its review of the bill to date on October 20, 2025.

Written submissions can be sent to the Committee by email at @email.

Seeking Input on Bill 29

MLAs on the Standing Committee on Government Operations want to hear from you as part of their review of Bill 29: First Responders Workers' Compensation Amendment Act.

This private Member’s bill put forward by Kieron Testart, the MLA for Range Lake, would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to expand the existing presumptive workers’ compensation coverage, which currently covers 14 cancer types and cardiac arrest within 24 hours of attendance at an emergency response, to presumptive coverage of all cancers and heart disease for firefighters. The Bill would also provide new presumptive coverage of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for all first responders.

If this bill is adopted by the Assembly and becomes law, it would come into force on October 27, 2026.

A backgrounder on the Bill prepared by MLA Testart, the bill’s sponsor, is available here.

Livestreams of previous Committee hearings on this Bill:

• June 19, 2025: MLA Kieron Testart, sponsor of the Bill, and Christian Bittrolff, President, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2890
• June 19, 2025: Honourable Vince McKay, Minister Responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC), and Rick Hunt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the WSCC (slideshow presentation here)

Would this Bill affect you? Do you have comments you would like to share with the Committee? Please share your input in writing  by email to @email.

Seeking Input on Bill 32

The Committee is reviewing Bill 32: An Act to Amend the Public Service Act, No. 2 and wants to hear from you.

This bill proposes to modernize the Public Service Act. Key changes include:

• clarifying roles and responsibilities, including the delegation of authority
• addressing the process for employee recruitment and transfers
• including staffing appeals in legislation
• identifying information sources on terms and conditions of employment
• setting clear expectations for employee conduct
• framing engagement between the GNWT and employees’ associations
• addressing successor employer provisions
• providing a legislated approach to the Safe Disclosure of Wrongdoing Process.

Read the plain language summary of the bill here.

Livestreams of previous Committee hearings on this Bill:

• November 17, 2025: Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance (slideshow presentation here)

Share your input in writing by contacting @email. Please note that submissions received may be cited publicly in the Committee’s published work.

Seeking Input on the NWT Heritage Fund Act

The Government Operations Committee is conducting a statutory ten-year review of the Northwest Territories Heritage Fund Act (the Act). The Act established the Northwest Territories Heritage Fund, through which a portion of non-renewable resource royalties collected each year are invested in a sovereign wealth fund, to help ensure that future generations benefit from today’s development of non-renewable resources.

The Act does not specify how much should be contributed to the Heritage Fund each year; contributions are approved by the Assembly as part of the annual budget. Since devolution, the GNWT has allocated 25% of its share of resource royalties to the Fund, with the rest earmarked for capital projects and debt repayment.

According to the Act, no funds can be withdrawn from the Heritage Fund before 2033. The Act also imposes limits on the amount that can be withdrawn each year: withdrawals are restricted to the interest generated by the invested contributions, to a maximum of 5% of the Fund’s year-end balance. The Assembly must authorize each withdrawal through legislation, and decisions on how to spend withdrawn funds are approved by the Assembly in the annual budget. Since 2019, the Fund has been managed by CIBC Wood Gundy with the goal of maximizing long-term returns without taking unnecessary risk. The Department of Finance told the Committee in August 2024 that the Fund has seen compounded annual returns of 5.9%. Others have noted that the net return on investment has frequently fallen below the annual rate of inflation. The balance of the Heritage Fund as of March 31, 2025, is $52.5 million.

As part of its review, the Committee can offer recommendations to the Legislative Assembly on whether any amendments to the Act and changes to the Fund should be made. Some of the questions the Committee is studying include:

• Should the Heritage Fund be maintained?
• How much should be contributed to the Fund each year? Should contributions only come from resource royalties, or should other sources of revenue be included? Should these amounts be enshrined in the Act?
• Should the ban on withdrawals from the Fund before 2033 be maintained, or changed?
• Should the limit on withdrawals each year be kept in place, or changed? Should there be guidelines in place on how withdrawals are spent?
• The Fund’s portfolio is primarily composed of safer investments, which generally have a lower rate of return. Should the Fund’s investment strategy change to increase the amount of return generated, even if this strategy is considered a greater risk?
• Currently, the Act can be changed or repealed with the support of a simple majority of MLAs. Should the Act be changed to require a higher threshold of support to make changes or repeal it in the future? If so, what should the threshold be? A previous Committee recommended in 2011 that a special two-thirds majority of MLAs be required to amend the Act.

To inform its work, the Committee is asking NWT residents to share their perspectives on the Act and the Heritage Fund.

Please submit your thoughts in writing or request to speak to Committee at:
📧 @email 

Please note that submissions received may be cited publicly in the Committee’s published work.

Related Links:

• NWT Heritage Fund Act
• NWT Heritage Fund Regulations
• NWT Heritage Fund financial statements for the 2023-24 fiscal year (pages 140 to 154)
• 2025 annual report of the NWT Heritage Fund, including 2024-25 financial statements
• GNWT Department of Finance, NWT Heritage Fund webpage
• Committee report, October 2024: Initiation of the Ten-Year Review of the NWT Heritage Fund Act
• Previous Committee hearings:
• August 27, 2024: Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance (livestream here)
• January 9, 2025: Duncan Bonfield and Victoria Barbary, International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (livestream here)
• January 20, 2025: William L. Megginson, University of Oklahoma (livestream here)
• February 10, 2025: Kevin O’Reilly, Alternatives North (livestream here)
• March 13, 2025: Stephen Thompson and Brittany Jones, Department of Finance and Treasury Board, Government of Alberta (livestream here)
• June 11, 2025: Deven Mitchell, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (livestream here)

Study on NTPC Governance

The Government Operations Committee is currently studying the governance structure of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC), and the extent to which the NTPC’s operational and funding models permit it to effectively address challenges facing the Northwest Territories’ changing energy landscape.

To answer these questions, the Committee has been holding public briefings with experts in the field of energy corporation governance and with stakeholders in the NWT and in nearby jurisdictions.

Livestreams of previous Committee briefings on this study and on related matters:

• June 10, 2024: the Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister Responsible for the NTPC (slideshow presentation here)
• December 3, 2024: Darrell Beaulieu, President and CEO, Denendeh Investments Incorporated and Chair of Naka Power Utilities and Jay Massie, Vice President of Northern Development and Indigenous Relations at ATCO (slideshow presentation here)
• April 24, 2025: Dr. Christina Hoicka, Canada Research Chair in Urban Planning for Climate Change and Associate Professor in Geography and Civil Engineering, University of Victoria (slideshow presentation here)
• April 25, 2025: Curtis Thayer, Executive Director, Alaska Energy Authority (slideshow presentation here)
• April 28, 2025: Debra Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, and David Brown, Executive Vice-President, Governance Solutions Incorporated; Terri Harper, Chief Financial Officer, I.N.N. Electric Cooperative Incorporated (slideshow presentations here)
• May 22, 2025: Dr. Guy Holburn, Professor of Business, Economics, and Public Policy, and Dr. Adam Fremeth, Associate Professor of Business, Economics and Public Policy, Ivey Business School at Western University (slideshow presentation here)
• May 26, 2025: Linda Freed, President, and Crystal Enkvist, Executive Director, Alaska Power Association (slideshow presentation here)

How to Provide Feedback

• Written Submissions: a letter sent to the Committee containing your thoughts, ideas, perspectives and comments.
  • NOTE: these are considered public documents unless marked as confidential.
• Oral Comments: Speaking with the Committee in person (or virtually) during a Public Hearing.

Contact

To send written submissions, sign up to provide oral comments at a public meeting, or for more information on any Committee business, please email the Committee Clerk at @email.