Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been some time since we have been elected and earlier in our term, we established the Northwest Territorials Electoral Boundaries Commission in October 1996, for Nunavut and the west.
Mr. Speaker, the last time a Boundaries Commission was sent out from the Assembly of the Northwest Territories, was back in 1993-1994, but that was not to create any new seats. The last time seats were created or changed or deleted was in 1983, I believe.
Mr. Speaker, members of my constituency have come forward with a concern of representation when it comes to a 14 Member Legislative Assembly. Some would say we should go for an election even earlier, at the same time as Nunavut. For stability's sake, we carry on until the time that is established, which would be the following year in October of 1999, which would be the normal election time. Without changing what we will have presently after division of 14 Members, the concern would be with representation from an Ordinary Members' Caucus, versus a Cabinet situation, where you would have six proposed Cabinet Members, the Speaker, yourself, would remain and there would be seven Ordinary Members. The accountability is what is being brought into consideration. How can Ordinary Members hold Cabinet accountable from just a one vote majority?
As well, I have my own concerns about what it comes after division, April 1, 1999. There are 14 seats left in the Legislative Assembly after division. When you look at it on the map in the Inuvik region, including the Sahtu, the Mackenzie Delta and Nunakput ridings, there are four seats in the whole northern part of this territory, the Western Territory. There is some concern from members of my community, as well, that needs to be addressed.
I hope this is established and that Members of the Assembly support this in establishing the Commission so it could go out and look at all of these matters, accountability of Cabinet versus Ordinary Members and whether it is fair and equal representation, north and south, throughout the Western Territory. I do not believe this is a move to try and locate power to a certain part of the territory when it is a matter and a way of making sure all residents of the territory have fair representation, not based only on population, but based on the ability to be represented. I have said it before, myself, coming from Inuvik. At times when I have questioned Ministers in this Assembly, it seems like when you are out of sight, you are out of mind. One way of balancing that is to look at your existing boundaries and the amount of representation one regional area would have versus another or one community over another. I do not believe we need to prolong the idea of a Boundaries Commission. I think it needs to be sent out. We did meet with the Aboriginal Summit. They have concerns with the Boundaries Commission going out. If we establish a Boundaries Commission and have it report in due process by fall, for example, we could, as the Western Caucus of this Assembly sit down with the Aboriginal Summit to discuss what has been recommended. There are a lot of opportunities to continue to work together.
We are aware that existing boundaries after division will bring into question the ability of residents of this territory to be represented fairly. Knowing that, I do not think it is fair that we, as legislative Members, would sit on that and allow that to pass by and wait for a court challenge or anything of that nature. We have an opportunity to speak and make decisions as we were elected to do. To move forward and to make decisions that would be in the best interests of the whole territory and allow residents of this territory, which would be the Western Territory, to tell us what they think about it. In the past, the Western Caucus made some decisions and sent a message out of what we proposed to do. Some would say and ask me why have you changed your mind? Mr. Speaker, I was elected by members of my community to represent their interests. Once the news had come out that the Western Caucus had set out a plan, there were questions raised, concerns mentioned and the calling for the Electoral Boundaries Commission.
For two years the Beaufort Delta Leaders Conference laid out motions to establish a Boundaries Commission. In their motions they were quite specific. They were calling for an extra seat in Aklavik and one for Tuk.
The following year and this past March, there was another motion. It was just mainly to get a Boundaries Commission out. They believed that needed to be looked at and addressed. I would not be truthful if I was saying I was doing this for the best interests of the whole territory. Of course, I have interests for the area I represent. As I stated earlier, we do have concerns. With 14 Members left, if you look at the system, whether it is four or three versus the rest of the territory if it ever comes to that, it is a small portion although we have a large land mass. I hope that Members here would look to moving forward with this and giving the people of this territory the ability to speak on the issue of the Boundaries Commission. The only way that it can be done is by establishing a Boundaries Commission and sending them out to interview and meet with the people. If we are not going to move with that, then we are saying that although we are elected, we will make the decisions and a few will have input. We will make the final decision and we will wear whatever comes out of it.
As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, I represent my constituency. My constituency and members of it have spoken. They would like to see an establishment of the Boundaries Commission. I do this, Mr. Speaker, in the hopes that others will see the reasoning in letting the people of the territories see the issue and make recommendations. Have all the people of the territories said 14 is too much? Maybe some would say they need more, maybe some would say they need less. We have not given them the opportunity to voice their concerns or raise questions.
For good government, we need to send the message out to the people that, yes, we are willing to listen to your comments and concerns. We are listening and we will, in fact, enable a Boundaries Commission to go forward and receive those. At the appropriate time when the commission comes back and reports to the Legislative Assembly, we could follow the report with recommendations. We have heard so many times in this forum we need to move on, make decisions, get on with the business of government. This is one of the points of government. There are concerns that there are many other things happening within the territory that could confuse this. Those processes will continue. This is not to be established to hinder that process. This is only to establish that the government as we know today, which will change and has changed, is recognizing the potential problems of a new Western Territory in only having 14 Members. I hope that Members of this Assembly would see that, and allow their members of their constituencies to speak to a Boundaries Commission and let their views be known. Truthfully, we can say that we have allowed the people of the territories, the Western Territory, to express their concerns. Whether some would say, 14 is enough government. Some would say the bureaucracy will continue to run it. The bureaucracy does not come to my constituency. Bureaucracy does not come and tell the elder lady that we have changed the program. They come to our offices as members of the Assembly. They come to us to ask the questions. Many do not feel comfortable with the big wheel of government pulling in a bunch of government employees or bureaucrats, as we would know them coming off the plane and telling the people how it should be done. They want to ask their Member. We can give them the opportunity to voice those concerns and say if they feel they are under represented. I urge Members of this Assembly to give the people of the territories a chance to voice their concerns and express their views on their representation in the Government of the Western Territory. I hope that with this, it will allow the process to continue. We will allow decisions to be made, and we will show the people of the territories that we do take all things into consideration and that we will move forward with the idea of being a better government or a good government. Let us let the people voice their concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause