Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance, who is also the Minister responsible for the Public Service.
So on May 5th, the Ministers of Finance and Health and Social Services issued a joint press release announcing that the government is embarking on a second phase of changes to the Public Service Act that will focus on modernizing section 41. That's the section that defines bargaining units and prescribes who will be the bargaining agent for public servants.
First, can the Minister explain what is the objective of this modernization effort that the government is embarking on; in other words, what is the problem with section 41 that you are seeking to solve? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, modernization of the Public Service Act has, in its whole, been happening now over many years. There's been much work done in this space, and we already are at a stage with most of the Act such that it is already in legislative drafting and will be coming forward to the House later this year. That is with one exception, and that was with respect to section 41. That section, of course, the Member's already detailed, does involve bargaining units and is one that is a little more complicated and so we left that aside from the rest of the Act.
What it is is it does speak to a Charter right, a Charter right with respect to freedom of association which has a couple of parts to it. You have the ability to organize as a group what kind of your group of union -- or of employees you may want to be when you decide to collect yourselves. You have that choice, and you can make that choice independently. And then also, Mr. Speaker, would be about ensuring that that group of employees can make a determination about who would represent them in a collective agreement proceeding. So, again, that choice would be independent. That choice is one that it's about choice and independence, or reflective. Right now, our section prescribes who the group of employees shall be and who their bargaining agent shall be. And so it does appear that since the time sometime ago when this Act was initially drafted, it is now out of step with what seems to be the direction of the Charter and so we are looking to bring that in line. A commitment was made to Members of this Assembly earlier this year that we bring forward an LP to make this change, and we are looking to getting that work underway. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank to the Minister for setting out a clear goal for that, the amendment to that section. For clarity, is the government committing to establish a labour relations board or similar mechanism to certifying these certified bargaining agents during the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the commitment I want to make really is one of fixing the problem that I just described in the last answer, and it may well be that it's -- that the solution is a labour relations board. It may well be that there's some other entity or organization that can conduct the bargaining or that can conduct a certification, if that's what is ultimately required. I'm hesitant, Mr. Speaker, to say here and with too much detail what -- where we may end up because we haven't necessarily gone out -- well, we haven't gone out yet. Certainly not to our unions currently that are in the Northwest Territories, the Union of Northern Workers or PSAC, to discuss with them. They have a lot of expertise, quite obviously, are more than simply stakeholders in this matter, and we want to have a time to engage with them as well as with the employees who are the public servants that this will be impacting. So, again, wanting to fix the problem that we have laid out but wanting to do that in the right way which is one that involves an opportunity to have discussions and engagements with those who are impacted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so I understand the government has clearly committed to collaboration and consultation with existing bargaining agents such as the Union of Northern Workers during its work to modernize section 41 of the Public Service Act. The question is, for the Minister, does the government need consent or permission from the UNW in order to complete changes to this section of the Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, no, the government doesn't require consent or permission from other parties or -- including from the union to change the Public Service Act. That said, Mr. Speaker, as I indicated the union here certainly is more than merely a stakeholder, so certainly ensuring their involvement is quite important to making sure that we have a piece of legislation that is the best possible version of itself right now. And also, Mr. Speaker, there is certainly, I should make note, an expectation, an obligation on the government, a legal obligation on the government, in the current Public Service Act that there not be any changes to that Act which governs the relationships and governs the bargaining process when the parties go into bargaining, so once we have a notice to bargain. There is a provision in there where the parties can agree on consent to continue to work on changes such as what we might be contemplating here or as we have already done in the rest of the Public Service Act. But again -- so, again, Mr. Speaker, it's not consent or permission but certainly is one where we want to make sure that we are, you know, maintaining our relationship, maintaining fair bargaining, and maintaining our duty to engage in bargaining fairly and upholding the law as it is now in section 41. Mr. Speaker, I believe the timeline we're on and the relationships that we have will allow us to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
