Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all I just wanted to apologize for being late today. I was going to drive back from Hay River and be here on time but we had a rather blustery snow storm. I held off, so I do apologize for my lateness and my attire. Mr. Chairman, with respect to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Report, I think that there has been some confusion surrounding this report in that different areas in the north seem to be answering different questions. I believe when the commission came to Hay River the message was very clear from Hay River, that they wanted to see the number of MLAs remain at 14 until after division and until after the issue surrounding the western constitution and governance had been determined, then look at the issue of the number of Members. Hay River took a fairly strong position that we should remain at 14 Members, until those other things are determined.

The second question is, if it were determined there was a need for an increase in the number of seats then certainly a number of communities would have been looked at in that light, including Yellowknife and Hay River. As the commission report stands right now, if it were adopted they way it is, it would see Hay River as being quite disproportionately under represented with only one Member. I am trying to break this out and trying to convey there are actually two questions here.

On the first question of the number of MLAs, it is my position, and that of most of the people I have talked to in my riding, this is premature, to look at increasing the number of MLAs until after these other issues of governance and constitution have been thoroughly addressed and determined. With that, Mr. Chairman, those are my remarks and I will not be supporting the Electoral Boundaries Commission Report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If there are no further general comments, I would like to make a motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that the current electoral districts of Yellowknife North, Yellowknife Centre, Yellowknife Frame Lake and Yellowknife South be redrawn to create six electoral districts as outlined on the appendixed map.

And further, that the electoral districts be named Range Lake, Kam Lake, Frame Lake, Great Slave, Yellowknife Centre and Weledeh. Mr. Chairman, I believe the Clerk is handing the motion around.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will say a few words and perhaps other Members would like to comment as well. On this motion, I would like to remind Members and would appeal to them about the commission's report. I think we have to remember that it was ten Members who voted to set up the commission. While it may not have addressed to the satisfaction of some of those Members for their particular constituencies, I think we do need to make note of the fact that the membership of this commission, which was a Supreme Court justice, as Mr. Steen so well put. I think he did make reference to the fact that we should not take this lightly. It was a Supreme Court justice who was the chair of this and made a recommendation. I am sure she would have considered all situations that could impact upon her decision.

Also there was the former government leader on this commission, who is a lawyer and he is from Fort Simpson, and certainly represents very well the viewpoints of his people. There is a Member from Tuktoyaktuk. She also represents very well the viewpoint, the needs and desires of her people. It was a unanimous recommendation to add two seats to the City of Yellowknife. It was a recommendation that considered the issue of voter parity in our community. That particular recommendation would restore the equality of representation. It would restore voter parity to a great degree. I would remind Members, Yellowknife has grown substantially over the years. While arguments can be made that, what is the difference of having four Members? Well, four Members were established years ago.

I would also remind Members about, and it is a critical issue to me, the ability of us, as Ordinary Members, to be able to function as a government. We cannot function with seven Members. I want to remind Members of that and would appeal to you to understand that. It is easy to sit here today, but one year from now, believe me, for those of us who may be fortunate to be returned, if you so desired, we will tear our hair out trying to make this government accountable. We will tear our hair out trying to run committees. There are a number of committees this government has. You cannot operate each committee with two or three Members. There is sickness involved, Members who may have to be away during House sessions or committee meetings. It is impossible to meet. I would appeal to Members now, to vote in the right way. I think it is critically important to us to do that. Please, do not throw this out. I think it is a good recommendation and we may have some difficulties if we do not proceed with it. Thank you.

--Hear, Hear

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it has been an interesting debate this afternoon. We have heard from a number of people that constitutional development will continue. There is no question. I said that myself. I do not think it is right to expect the public government to stand still without knowing how long that is going to take. It does not necessarily affect the end result if the numbers of MLAs change in terms of who has what jurisdiction and how the systems work.

As far as I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, we definitely need more than 14 seats to make this House work properly. Sixteen is not as many as I would like to see, but I recognize we have to respect the work of the Boundaries Commission and what they heard from the public in their travels across the north and I think we have to reflect that in the decisions we make in this House.

Mr. Chairman, I understand the frustrations expressed by Members about the disparity of economic opportunity across our regions. I understand the frustrations Members have expressed about the ease of access to government. I think we have to, as a government, try and address those situations as much as we can. We have to try and improve the situation. But we have to say again, Mr. Chairman, that the laws of Canada also say we must respect the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As legislators, we have a responsibility to live up to the expectation of the public that we will respect the laws of Canada. The laws of Canada do allow for some variation in constituencies to reflect geography, community history, community interests and minority representation. Our current makeup of constituencies does reflect these differences. In fact, Mr. Chairman, these differences will still be reflected and respected, even with six seats in Yellowknife as recommended. I would point to Tu Nedhe and Deh Cho as still there and not being challenged. I think there is a recognition that geography, difficulty of access, does play a role.

To protect the diversity we now have, and the right of the smaller constituencies to exist, we have to support the recommendations of this commission. Mr. Chairman, I will be supporting this motion and would urge other Members to do so. Mr. Chairman, at the appropriate time, I would request you would have a recorded vote, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will not be supporting this motion. Though I would like to thank Mr. Henry for the marching orders he has given us in what to tell our constituents and how to think on this particular issue. I believe we do have a choice. We always have a choice. This is a political arena. It is not a question of right or wrong. It is what is going to be at the end of the day. What this body thinks is in the best interests of the Northwest Territories. Will the government stand still after division? Regardless of the number of MLAs, this government will not stand still. We are

going to be on our own for the first time as a Western Territory and we will evolve. Be it with 14 or 16. I think we create bogeyman out there by all the doom and gloom that is going to happen with 14 Members. I am confident we can make the adjustments necessary to run with 14.

As my colleague, Mr. Kakfwi, indicated, our job is to make tough political decisions. Mr. Henry has made it somewhat of a practice to keep telling us what is good for Yellowknife is good for everybody else. Sometimes I do not always think that is the case. In this case I think a strong Northwest Territories is good for Yellowknife. I will not be supporting this motion and I would trust my colleagues will make the right decision as well, so when we go back to our constituents we can look them in the eye and tell them we made the decision we made because we are in touch with our constituents and not because we were instructed to do so by the Member from Yellowknife South. Thank you.

I will not be supporting the motion. Originally I was not going to make a response to this, but since a number of Members have pointed out, as I did as well when I made my first general comments, that I moved the motion to establish the Boundaries Commission. I figure some clarification there, along with why in some cases some people would says that I have put on a different coat today. I look it as the reason for the commission was to hear from the people. I believe if you look at every community that the commission went to visit, a large number of people came out and said, enough government. I am elected by people in Inuvik. I represent them here. When I go into a committee meeting, I am one. While other people in committees of this government influence the direction of government in Cabinet, there are four. That tells me right there the ability to influence. Based on that, Mr. Chairman, and based on what the people of my community, the majority of people have said, I cannot support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, let me say what a wonderful community I think Yellowknife is and what a wonderful input and contribution the four Members from Yellowknife do make to this Legislature. I want to say that I respect that input very much and I appreciate working with them. However, at a time when it is decided by the majority of the people in the Northwest Territories that more Members are needed to be elected to this legislature and it is determined what number that will be and how that will be evenly distributed amongst the population, I am certain I will have no trouble supporting two more Members for the City of Yellowknife. However, as a Member representing Hay River and I look at this report and I see that the percentage variance from average of Hay River, with Enterprise removed, is still at plus 46 percent, I cannot in good conscience support putting that kind of disproportionate representation to my own community in favour of Yellowknife.

However, if in the future, as I said before, when some of the constitutional and governance issues are established and it is determined that we do need more than 14 MLAs in this Legislature, I will be all for supporting Yellowknife's equal and fair representation in this legislature with additional Members at that time, if so determined. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.