This is page numbers 903 - 952 of the Hansard for the 12th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Topics

Members Present

Mr. Allooloo, Mr. Antoine, Hon. Silas Arngna'naaq, Mr. Arvaluk, Mr. Ballantyne, Mr. Dent, Mr. Gargan, Mr. Koe, Mr. Lewis, Hon. Jeannie Marie-Jewell, Hon. Rebecca Mike, Hon. Don Morin, Hon. Richard Nerysoo, Mr. Ningark, Mr. Patterson, Hon. John Pollard, Mr. Pudlat, Mr. Pudluk, Hon. John Todd, Mr. Whitford, Mr. Zoe

---Prayer

Item 1: Prayer
Item 1: Prayer

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Good morning. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Gargan.

Absence Of Scol Chairman During Debate On Bill 7
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Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, every four years the people of the Northwest Territories exercise their democratic right and elect to this Legislature Members who they trust with the representation of their interests and matters that concern their welfare.

Upon entering these hallowed halls, each Member further serves the public by participating in the deliberation of standing and special committees. These committees are one of the means by which Members can hold this government accountable. Madam Speaker, it is my opinion that one of the most important obligations we undertake when we are elected is the responsibility of legislators. Making decisions about the laws that govern this territory is an awesome responsibility because a decision we make regarding legislation affects all people who must live under these laws.

In the past, decisions were made to create, for the purpose of reviewing important legislation, the Standing Committee on Legislation. This standing committee is committed to determining the will of the people with regard to proposed legislation, reviewing the legislation to ensure that laws of the Northwest Territories are not restricting upon the people of this territory and making recommendations to the House on legislation.

Madam Speaker, I was very disappointed that the debate surrounding Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Arctic College Act, was concluded in the absence of the chairman of the standing committee that reviewed the proposed legislation. The committee report on the review of Bill 7 did not recommend support for the proposed amendment. It is my belief that the committee report reflected the will of the people of the Northwest Territories. Further, the chairman of each committee of this Legislature receives information from the people who we were elected to serve. Although this information is not always received during deliberations of standing committees, a chairman can bring forward these interests during the debates on issues in committee of the whole.

Therefore, I feel it is important that Members ensure that the chairman of the standing committee is present during the debate on issues that have been before the committee. By providing this courtesy, we appear to represent the interests of the people...

Absence Of Scol Chairman During Debate On Bill 7
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Mr. Gargan.

Absence Of Scol Chairman During Debate On Bill 7
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Madam Speaker, I would like to get unanimous consent to complete my last paragraph.

Absence Of Scol Chairman During Debate On Bill 7
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to continue. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Gargan.

Absence Of Scol Chairman During Debate On Bill 7
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Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker, honourable Members. By providing this courtesy, we appear to represent the interests of the people who elected us to these positions and not to institutions that govern. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

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Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs told this House in a Minister's statement that the deputy minister of her department had approached the NWT Arctic Winter Games directors to ask them to consider resigning as a sign of protest over the matter in which Inuvik was disqualified as host community in its bid for the 1998 Arctic Winter Games.

Madam Speaker, I think this action was despicable. The Arctic Winter Games board is specifically set up at arm's length from the government to avoid political interference. Having been set up this way, it was completely out of line for the Minister and her department to politicize, after the fact, the decision made by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. Yet, Madam Speaker, she chose to do so by having the deputy minister approach our dedicated and hard-working board members who had nothing to do with the decision.

Some Hon. Members

Shame.

Madam Speaker, this government had an opportunity to provide political direction if the Minister had decided that the 1988 games should be awarded to Inuvik. The Arctic Winter Games International Committee, before considering either bid, asked MACA whether they wished to provide political direction on the awarding of the 1998 games and were apparently told no. The international committee was told by MACA to evaluate the bids without any bias for one location over another.

Madam Speaker, once a decision has been announced, for a deputy minister to suggest that our representatives should resign in protest is a shabby way to divert the heat, heat that the Minister obviously expected over the decision, away from herself. If the Minister is not happy with the Arctic Winter Games International Committee's decision, she has no one to blame but herself, and should not have directed her deputy minister to suggest to Mr. Cooper and Mr. Legaree that they resign.

Madam Speaker, Mr. Cooper has dedicated 10 years of volunteer service as director and, most recently, president of the Arctic Winter Games Corporation. Mr. Legaree was a director for four years and, I understand, very active in helping Inuvik prepare their bid for the games. Have we heard any thanks from the government for their dedication and time served? No. Instead, we hear the government suggest they resign in a political gesture.

Some Hon. Members

Shame.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

That is totally unfair and deprives the NWT of their strong contribution to the Arctic Winter Games.

Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to continue. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker, honourable Members. Madam Speaker, as I understand it, the Arctic Winter Games International Committee felt that Inuvik would have trouble because of the size of the games. Has this government provided political direction to the directors from the NWT to suggest that the size of the games needed to be reduced? In fact, I think the government supported expansion of the games to include Alberta, Greenland and the Soviet republics. I haven't heard this government suggest that senior sports be eliminated from the games, or that the number of sports should be reduced.

Madam Speaker, the Minister of MACA should have accepted the responsibility that goes with the job when you accept a position on Cabinet, and not have tried to shift the blame by having a deputy minister ask Mr. Cooper and Mr. Legaree to resign. That was a corrupt use of government power.

Some Hon. Members

Hear, hear.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

If anyone should have resigned, it is the Minister. Madam Speaker, in conclusion, since no one else seems willing to do it, I would like to publicly thank Mr. Cooper and Mr. Legaree for their many years of dedication and many, many, many...

---Applause

...hours of volunteer service as directors for the Arctic Winter Games. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for High Arctic, Mr. Pudluk.

Embarrassing Situation For Member For High Arctic
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Ludy Pudluk High Arctic

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am going to make an unusual statement this morning. I have been coming here regularly since 1975 when I was elected as an MLA for High Arctic.

Since I started coming here, I have never had problems with getting food delivered to my room. When I was a Minister, I had a big house; four bedrooms and a kitchen. Since the government policy came up last April, I had to move out from my apartment. I had to find a place to stay when we were holding session in Yellowknife. So mostly I stay at Northern United Place. It has kitchen facilities. It has a sink and a two-burner stove. It doesn't have an oven in that apartment, so when I bring my family here I have to order food.

My kids really like pizza. We don't have pizza in Resolute Bay, so when they are in town, they order a lot of pizza. So last week, my kids ordered a pizza from the restaurant. The delivery man knocked on my door and I opened it.

Madam Speaker, I am going to run out of time. I seek unanimous consent to continue.

Embarrassing Situation For Member For High Arctic
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Pudluk.

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Ludy Pudluk High Arctic

Thank you, Madam Speaker and colleagues. I opened the door. And I always give a little tip to the delivery man. He handed me the pizza and he said to me have you ever done any home cooking? It was very embarrassing to me and to my family. I thought the business people in town want to make money. I was really shocked that the delivery man said that to me. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Embarrassing Situation For Member For High Arctic
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.

"the Arctic Winter Bureaucratic Sports"
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Fred Koe Inuvik

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I just received a news release today announcing the scheduling of the true Arctic Winter Games to be held in Inuvik in the spring of 1995. Inuvik wishes to expand the scope of their immensely popular Muskrat Jamboree. This will mark the beginning for true winter games north of the Arctic Circle.

---Applause Part of the games will involve truly traditional northern winter sports. Events such as biathlon, snowshoe races, river ice curling and dogteam races will be held. Inuvik will also host the good woman and good man contests.

---Applause

---Laughter

To date, some of the events scheduled so far are international charades, duck and run, reject and deflect, the bureaucratic shuffle race and pass the buck.

---Laughter

---Applause

These sound like fun. So book these dates ahead of time and start practising for the first-ever true Arctic Winter Games. Mahsi.

---Applause

"the Arctic Winter Bureaucratic Sports"
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Ballantyne.

Member's Statement Re Remembrance Day
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Michael Ballantyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, tomorrow is Remembrance Day and like other colleagues, today I want to take some time to recognize the sacrifices made by the Canadian Armed Forces. They fought and died in many wars and peace-keeping operations in this century.

Our armed forces' sacrifice has allowed all of us to live in a wonderful democracy that we sometimes take for granted. There were 68,000 Canadian soldiers who died in World War I; 45,000 Canadian soldiers died in World War II and hundreds more in Korea. It continues. Over 100 Canadians have died in peace-keeping operations around the world since the United Nations started peace-keeping operations. In the latest peace-keeping operation in Yugoslavia, 10 Canadians have died already.

I would also like to recognize some of the sacrifices made by my family over the years. Both my father's father and my mother's father were both gassed in World War I in separate battles. Both of them died young because of complications. I never had a chance to know either one of them. My father's uncle, Lieutenant Allan Minns, was wounded three different times and was killed at the age of 21 in World War I. Another one of my father's uncles, Captain Minns, was wounded five different times, won almost every major bravery decoration and was honoured by the Governor General after the war.

My father served as a combat engineer in World War II and was a career army officer for 29 years. Like most Canadians, I am very proud of my family's contribution. I feel all of us owe a great debt of thanks to the many Canadians who have served and died for this country. Without them, there would be no Canada as we know it today. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause