A bill to expand workers’ compensation coverage for NWT first responders hit a procedural roadblock on Friday as cabinet argued it would inappropriately trigger the spending of public money.
Bill 29, the First Responders Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act, was introduced last May by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart.
In its original form, the bill sought to broaden presumptive coverage for firefighters to include all cancers and heart diseases and extend presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder to a range of first responders, including paramedics, nurses, sheriffs and correctional officers.
Presumptive coverage means a diagnosis is presumed to be work-related, removing the need for an employee to prove a connection between their job and their illness.
The bill cleared committee review on Wednesday after four amendments were agreed upon. Those included narrowing the focus to 23 cancers, rather than any cancer, and separating eligibility criteria for heart diseases and cancers.
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On Friday, Testart sought unanimous consent to move Bill 29 directly to third reading, but government House leader Jay Macdonald objected and rose on a point of order.
Macdonald argued the bill would require the GNWT to pay an estimated $4.3-million one-time liability payment, plus an additional $409,000 to the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission in increased annual rates.
He said that makes the bill improper under legislature rules that limit private members’ bills to those not involving the appropriation of public funds.
Macdonald said cabinet supports the principle of the bill but argued the spending it would trigger goes beyond incidental costs and would need to be formally appropriated.
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Testart pushed back, arguing the bill does not directly appropriate funds and that the coming-into-force date – 12 months after assent – gives the government a full budget cycle to plan. He pointed to a precedent in Bill 8, passed in 2024, which he asserted had similarly created new financial obligations without a point of order being raised.
Testart also noted cabinet raised no procedural concerns when Bill 29 received second reading in May 2025.
“This point of order is not a question of procedure, rather it is a question of politics,” Testart said.
Speaker Shane Thompson said he would take the matter under advisement and return with a ruling at a later date.
