Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Finance. As the government has committed to bring forward legislation by fall of 2026 regarding phase 2 changes to the Public Service Act, specifically addressing section 41 and the right to freedom of association, can the Minister tell us what kind of public engagement on this initiative is planned for the coming winter? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the very first step which is happening as early as next week, is to engage in bargaining -- with bargaining partners which is to say the unions so that they are fully aware and involved in the path that we may choose. As I am noting, that starts next week with the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Union of Northern Workers and then the teachers' association thereafter. And, Mr. Speaker, we'd be scoping out some opportunity for public engagement thereafter but still noting that there was a commitment here to have a legislative proposal ready to roll for the Assembly early in the winter. So that will have to all happen fairly quickly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So will the government only be reaching out to identified stakeholder organizations to meet privately, or will there be a wider call for public input or perhaps public meetings to be held? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is going to be the Have Your Say website that is available, and folks are hopefully familiar with that tool. It is used across the GNWT. That will be coming out this calendar year. So certainly will send that to my colleagues and hopefully get the word out to the public that that's happening and certainly would want to encourage anyone who's interested. Traditionally, Mr. Speaker, this would be a piece of legislation that because it focuses on the public service and is a tool related to the public service wouldn't have necessarily gone through as extensive of a public engagement. We, of course, have the benefit of having gone through some public engagement related to that but would encourage anyone that would still like to participate in this particular process to be looking for it this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that there's already been substantial public input on this topic received by the Standing Committee on Government Operations as part of its review of Bill 26, in order to avoid asking people to engage over and over again on the same topic and risk consultation fatigue, will the Minister ensure that staff review the complete public record from the review of Bill 26 to include those materials as they develop the legislation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the comment. I do think that over-engagement is something that does tend to happen and can happen and can detrimentally affect the outcome that we want. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that I will direct to ensure that the staff working on this treat the information that was received during the public process the same as they would information that we would receive during a government-led process. There will be no two tiering of it. I can also assure the Member and the House that they've already been watching. I have frequently heard from them as the process was going through that they were already watching and hearing what was happening so, but certainly that'll -- again, as I say, information will not be treated differently. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
