Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a really hard time trying to support an initiative that I feel is undermining the
distribution of power in the Western Territory through division, especially coming from a small riding where I see a lot of times when I want support on initiatives that I bring forth, I have my eastern colleagues from the smaller ridings who can understand where I am coming from. With the makeup that I see with the formation of the new Western Territory, with the 14 seats and with a call from the larger centres to allow them more seats, I really feel the whole area of distribution of power is being undermined to a state where the smaller ridings and the rural ridings will be undermined by a strong central government who will make up the majority of seats in this House and control the majority of seats in Cabinet. I would say that based on the intention of the Members in this House, now consisting of 24 Members of which nine Members come from large centres, to have 14 Members which will consist of seven Members which are half the seats that make up the Legislature; it will devolve the power and the distribution by almost 2/3 of what it was before. I think for myself, from a small riding, I feel a lot of times we do not get the ear of the government. We do not have the access to the government because of the rural ridings we come from and the location of this government being in Yellowknife, in which Yellowknife, as a large community, has four Members to represent the community. Yet in our cases, we have three, not four, communities to do the same thing with one Member.
I believe there has to be a better understanding regarding the makeup of the new Western Territory. There also has to be more emphasis put on the rural ridings and the makeup in regard to geographical areas, in which Mr. Steen's riding will include Holman Island. I do not know how they are going to fit with Tuk asking for an extra seat for that riding and having to include an extra community. I do not think that was put in the mix for the makeup of this Legislature. From the majority of concerns I have heard here, especially from the Yellowknife MLAs, it seems it is control of that power base which is presently in Yellowknife, and expanding that power base to have more control and more say over the smaller ridings we represent. As smaller constituencies, we will be more isolated than we are now. I have a real problem with the motion, based on the whole question of should the commission consider looking at that. Also keeps in mind, there is a call from the Aboriginal Summit, who do not support this initiative at this time because of the political ramification it may have the constitutional process and the whole area in regard to the political accord we are trying to work with the aboriginal groups. I believe there has to be more time given to clearly consider exactly the implication of this motion, not just for the sake of expanding the Legislature, but the whole distribution of power in the new Western Territory. I believe this motion will undermine the smaller ridings that are presently in this House and we will not have the say that we had before, with 24 Members.
I strongly feel, Mr. Speaker, that the whole process everybody is pushing that is we have to conclude this motion in order to have it endorsed by the federal government. We can come forward next year to the federal government and ask for amendment or a call for a Boundaries Commission strictly by notifying the federal government of our endeavours. I believe we have to allow the smaller communities to seriously see how they fit into the big picture of the Western Territory because the push for this motion I see coming from the larger centres to build the power base that they presently have. I strongly feel it will undermine myself as a regular Member from a small riding and also the other communities that do consist of small ridings. The makeup will be over 50 percent of the seats if Yellowknife or any larger centres get more seats and no more seats are allocated to the smaller ridings.
Mr. Speaker, I will be voting against the motion, based on my concerns that I feel the smaller communities will be undermined by this process and they will not have due diligence and due process in allowing them to also have a say in how the Western Territory is going to be made up because of the argument from the larger centres where they want to be, based on population. It should be based on geographical area, so that the square mileage that you control, you should have that many more seats for every 100 square miles you control. That is more of a way of distributing power, not by the size of the community but by the size of your land base. So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will be voting against it.