Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it has been a long journey to get to where we are today. I can remember first entering this forum and signing an oath, which basically said, I do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will duly and faithfully, and to the best of my skill and knowledge, execute the powers and trust imposed in me as a Member of the Northwest Territories council, so help me God.
Mr. Chairman, I have often spoken about bringing the people to government and making decisions on behalf of them, and trying to make sure we reflect their position in all that we do. The process of government is something that has been brought to light and questioned throughout this process. We are all a part of that process, no matter where we sit in this Assembly. As ordinary Members, as Ministers, we all execute and give directions and that forms a process of government.
Our first responsibility is to the people of this territory. The people who put us here, who voted for us, who saw the promise, I guess I could say, of good leadership when they all put their X beside our names and chose us to represent them in this Assembly. I go back to the oath of office that we all took, each and every one of us. If we look at that and at the people we represent, we all have to ask ourselves the question, have we done the utmost to represent the people of the territories? I do not think anybody, from either side of this situation, can stand above another. This is one of the more difficult situations I find myself in as a Member of this Assembly. It is never easy to police yourself, to call into question one's leadership, or one's point of, I would not say attack, but, one's point of pursuing an initiative, whether it be a housing construction in one's community, a hospital, or anything of that nature.
Mr. Chairman, that is one of the reasons why the Conflict of Interest Act was established. It was there as a tool to govern ourselves, so that the people that we represent, if they had a concern, they could raise it. They had an avenue to question government, as we call it. It seems that, in the past, the majority of times this Conflict of Interest Act has been used by Members. I do not know if that says anything, there is also a concern that the act itself does not allow for public participation, when it comes to costs and how they would deal with the issue.
Mr. Chairman, as a Member of the Management and Services Board, and as things were published early on, I was asked many times, in my community, why I chose to do one thing over another. It was difficult because a lot of times, I had to tell my constituents that there is a process that is set out to be used and we cannot go outside of that process, whether we want to or not. To some, in the community, they would question me as to say, where are you heading with this? You spoke of being in an open government, an open process. When we talked to you on this specific issue, you tell us there is little I can say. That is one of the things of government. It is a process we have to use, that is established and, whether we like it or not, we have to operate under it. The only thing we can do, is to change those processes. Unfortunately, that seems to take a lot of time. I think we have all become aware of that.
Mr. Chairman, we are here today to deal with the report that is tabled, Conflict of Interest, filed by Mrs. Groenewegen against Mr. Morin. We have been asked by both sides for fairness. We have been asked to look at this report from two different points. I look at my role at this juncture and I have to say that this is another one of the processes that we, as an Assembly or previous assemblies, have put into place. Imperfect as it is, it is a tool that is used by the public and by Members of this Assembly, and previous assemblies.
Questions have come to light about what was the purpose? I cannot question those. I have told many of my constituents, I cannot question why, and I cannot pretend to read anyone's mind as to what possessed them or what made them choose the path they have gone in this whole situation. Indeed, I do not envy either of the parties who are involved in this and those outside of it. It is difficult when you are in this situation, alone as a Member, and knowing that the life you lived before becoming elected is changed to the greatest degree.
We all live in glass houses, as they say. Everything we do and say is looked upon as a potential or a possible comment we are making on behalf of government or as the people we represent. Mr. Chairman, I agree the people are looking for leadership. They are the ones who voted for us on voting day. I have heard many comments up until this day of what leadership or their feeling of leadership is, in the Northwest Territories. Many comments are said in a way, where not one of us, can come away from it thinking it does not impact them.
We heard earlier from a number of Members, and we heard Mrs. Groenewegen make remarks to it, as well, the fact that we must gather the pieces and move on. In a sense, at the end of the day, that is where we have to go. If we feel we are leaders, we have to get over this juncture and the history or the making of history, in the 13th Assembly. We have to move forward. If we are not going to do that, then we have to seriously ask ourselves around here and everyone of us, have to ask the question, we being the ones chosen to represent the people, are we leading for the right reasons?
When do we gather the pieces? Some would say sooner than later. Others would say there is more yet to be done. The reason I said earlier that all of us are affected by this, I think of it as being simply because we are all Members of this government, involved in committees and committee structures that were designed to question our Cabinet, our Cabinet colleagues, as to the direction they were choosing. I guess I would beg to question, if all of these things were going terribly wrong, where were we all?
I do not think it was a neglect on anybody's position to say that some of these things have gone out, but I think some of the initiatives taken early on were the right initiatives. We were trying to steer the ship of the Northwest Territories to come to division and to come at it so that both territories would have an opportunity to make best of its achievements for the upcoming days. It is unfortunate we find ourselves at the tail end of the 13th Assembly's term to be dealing with such issues because many, as the 13th Assembly comes to a close, will only remember a few things. We will probably have to answer many more questions as how it was to be in the 13th Assembly.
Indeed, Mr. Chairman, we all had the opportunity to raise questions in committee to the Ministers and in this forum. I understand, as well, that the Ministers, at times, used their opportunity to expand on their questions that made it difficult to understand whether or not you actually received your answer. That is a process of government. Can we make government perfect? How far are we willing to go back because, unfortunately, the way I see it, this is a structure that has been organized for years, that has been developed and as it developed and changed over the days from when officials from Ottawa used to travel north and make decisions on behalf of everyone, those changes came our way and we have had an opportunity to influence them. In some, understandably, it would say in the Northwest Territories that our opportunities to influence them have been very little, but we have come a long way and with that, mistakes are made. Sometimes bad judgement is used.
As this report was tabled, I had to look at it from the point of view that it was done by an officer of this Assembly, so to speak, doing the job that she was appointed to do through the Conflict of Interest Act. As I said earlier, I cannot go back and question the frame of mind or what was the intent of the questions on behalf of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner. I cannot go back and review the documents and the details to say whether or not Mr. Morin was just doing his job or that all the circumstances around it were just circumstances, or answer his question, when he opened up speaking to the report, and questioning us, as Members, before we would vote on this, if we voted in favour of it then, we would consider him as being dishonest, intentionally going beyond the lines and controls that are put in place for us.
That is a difficult point to have to look at, but I have had to look at it from an aspect of dealing strictly with the report. I cannot look at one's motives against another, but as I said earlier, this report is damning on all of us. You have heard of accountability and you will hear of it many times more before we are done. We are all accountable, whether we want to admit it or not. We have all taken part in votes in this Assembly, we have all passed or denied legislation, we have had the opportunity in committees to question the direction of Cabinet. If those that would say, well at times the Cabinet came up with a policy and put it into the Assembly, well we had that opportunity if we disagreed to change the course of direction this government would choose. I think if we look back on the history of the 13th Assembly, that was not done very often.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, maybe it is time for all of us to question accountability. Who are we accountable to? We are accountable to the people, the people who put us here, the people who put their trust and faith in us to guide this territory into division and beyond. Have we done that? I look at what we are doing today and I say that is far from where we thought we would be. Accountability, Mr. Chairman, is something that we all have a different measurement of. Some would say more needs to be done. Some would say, enough is enough, let us get on with our work.
Mr. Chairman, as I look at the report and its recommendations, a number of them were stated to be no violation, others there was conflict. I have to look at this report from the aspect the report is done, stated clearly, we have to deal with the report. The report, and I say this trying to be without malice, when one reads it, it draws many questions, but that is what the act and the whole process is for is to answer the questions. I would say that as the report sits, I find myself in a position that I would have to accept it.
I also accept the act of the Premier of the day when he resigned as being an act of goodwill, an act of accepting that this government was in a difficult position. I would say that he chose the honourable thing. As the recommendations state, they all state reprimand. How much more can I reprimand anyone in the Assembly than what has already been done? Can any of us take joy in doing more? That is not for me to answer. I have my own answer for myself. We go back to accountability. Maybe it is time, Mr. Chairman, that we go back to the people and ask them if they find us accountable. Maybe it is time to go out for a new mandate. As we heard Mrs. Groenewegen's comments earlier, more needs to be done, she says. Well if there is that much conflict in our system and those we chose to be Cabinet Ministers and the lack of fortitude, as she mentioned, on behalf of other Members to question it, then I think we should seriously consider the fact of having to go back to the people and let them choose the ones they would put back here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.