Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday, I and other Members had the opportunity to present a number of questions to the law clerk. I think I did that with the objective to ensure that other Members will have an opportunity to see what her opinions were in the event that the Boundaries Commission Report is not adopted. Her comments reinforced to me an opinion that a condition of effective representation is relative parity of voting power, so that every person has similar power when compared to another person. That is certainly not the case when we consider Yellowknife. There are factors that have been used such as geography that need to be taken into account to ensure that legislative assemblies do effectively represent people. There has been
consideration of variances of plus or minus 25 percent but in our case the variances are much more than that. They are very extensive. It should also be remembered that a person's vote should not be diluted to the extent that he or she no longer has effective representation. In having electoral districts with smaller populations for effective representation of some people does not legitimize excessive under-representation of peoples in other areas, such as the case of Yellowknife versus Tu Nedhe.
I would like to speak for a moment about the Boundaries Commission. The Boundaries Commission was established through a motion in this House, and that motion was moved by Mr. Roland and it was a recorded vote. Ten people voted in favour of that motion. One of the items in that motion stated that the commission shall take into consideration the density or rate of growth of the population of any part of the territory. That was one of the considerations, Mr. Chairman.
The make-up of the commission was a diverse cross-section of members from throughout the Northwest Territories. We had a representative from Tuktoyaktuk, from your constituency, Mr. Chairman. We had a representative from Fort Simpson and one from the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. They were a diverse group that represented all of the people of the Northwest Territories. Their recommendation was unanimous that Yellowknife should have two more seats. Unanimous. There was no question about that. Now, I ask Members here, is that an unreasonable thing to follow? I do not think so. This was a commission we established, by majority, ten people. It appears now that the objections that Members have are based not on democratic rights, but appear to be because they are unpopular. That is no reason to put forward an objection. Unpopularity is no reason. That is not good enough for me.
There was a case, apparently, in Alberta, I understand, that ruled that the issue of unpopularity could not be an issue. We need, in our democracy, equality of citizenship and there is such a thing irrespective of gender, race and we are a society that should have equality. Yellowknife should have equality here. We do not see that in this Legislative Assembly. There is a possibility to make that equal. The commission's recommendations try to restore that equality. Mr. Miltenberger referred to the fact that we have adequate representation with four in this Legislative Assembly. I would like to point out to him that in 1976, Yellowknife had 22 percent of the population and 27 percent of the representation in this Legislative Assembly. Today, it has 44 percent of the population, with only 30 percent of the representation. Times have changed, Yellowknife has grown. We have a lot more population today. We cannot ignore that.
The law of the land says there must be equal representation. When one constituency has 800 people and another constituency has 7,000 people, how can that be looked at by Members here and say there is no disparity? There sure is disparity.
I would like to speak about effective government for a moment. Again, Mr. Miltenberger spoke about the fact that we can work with 14 Members. I have had serious reservations about our ability to operate with 14 Members. When we consider that there will be six Cabinet Members, one Speaker, that leaves seven Members. We also today, have six standing committees. Just because we are dividing, does not mean the workload of this Assembly is cut dramatically because it is not. The workload will continue the same as ever. We will have the same government departments, we will have the same processes that are here now. For Mr. Miltenberger to suggest that six or seven Members, Ordinary Members, can provide effective opposition in this House and have an effective balance to six Cabinet Ministers, is ludicrous. That is just ludicrous. It is hopelessly unrealistic.
The new system that we are going into will alter the power to Cabinet. That is not there today. We have 15 Members here today, to be able to speak and ask questions and to look at the Cabinet Members and to hold them accountable. That will not be the case, I will guarantee it to you when we sit here with seven Members against six Cabinet Members. I have a tough enough time getting questions answered as it is, Mr. Chairman. I do not know whether the Members were listening today to the answers, but if we are sitting here with seven Members, we will never get answers to our questions.
The question has been raised about the cost of extra seats. A good deal of comment has been raised about that. Effective democracy is not something that you do through a cost analysis or a benefit analysis situation. If that was the case, why are we going to three territories in the Canadian north with 400,000 people. If cost is a matter to the federal government, well then we should not have three territories.
Nunavut recognizes that they need more Members to operate with. They will have 19 Members, Mr. Chairman. Iqaluit alone, with 4,000 people, will have three MLAs. In my presentation to the Commissioner, I included a lot of legal precedents. I will not review these here today, but they were recorded for those who are interested in the submission to the commission.
I would like to make reference to the fact that my constituents want to pursue more representation. Should the issue of voter parity not be addressed here, then there will, in my mind, no doubt be a court challenge. We should not have to go to court to prove beyond a doubt that we are right in demanding two more seats for Yellowknife. Members should remember the questions we asked on Tuesday, to the law clerk and the answers to those questions. I think they will prove beyond a doubt that there is a case there to take this to a challenge. I have no doubt in my mind that a challenge will be successful for adequate representation in Yellowknife, at least of two seats. It could affect other constituencies if it does go to a court challenge.
To me, the Boundaries Commission was a very credible commission with very credible people. They have made a very acceptable, credible report that we should adopt. I urge my fellow Members today to do the right thing. I urge them to vote in favour of giving Yellowknife two more seats.
I would like to make as a final comment, Mr. Chairman, some reference to Mr. Miltenberger's comments about Yellowknife getting everything. I, and my citizens, are tiring of that. That is not true. We represent 17,000 people. They are taxpayers in this northern government, big taxpayers. They contribute a tremendous amount to our economy.
When Mr. Miltenberger refers to $10 million to Yellowknife for Sirius Diamonds, that is strictly a loan guarantee. No $10 million was given to Sirius Diamonds. No $10 million was given to Yellowknife. $1 million to Giant Mine? Our finance Minister has pointed out that if we do not keep that mine going, we will lose $19 million per year in taxes in this territory. It is a cheap price to pay. That is not to the citizens of Yellowknife. It is to the citizens of the whole of the Northwest Territories.
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That is what keeps this government operating. Otherwise we would have another deficit of another $20 million. $1.5 million dollars to expand the airport, absolutely untrue. We did not get $1.5 million for the airport. $750,000 was spent to build some facilities out there but they are charging $20,000 a month to those facilities to operate out of there. Mr. Chairman, I would like to end on that basis, my time is up but I would like to state that Yellowknife is certainly not over-privileged by any means. We pay our way here. Thank you.
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