Mr. Bell, I am going to interrupt you here and ask you to direct your comments to the body of the motion, which is the dissolution of the 14th Assembly and not deal with items that have already been discussed. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just trying to give some clarification as to why I think it is justified to dissolve this Assembly, and I think it certainly stems from the conduct of Cabinet, in my opinion, because something as critical and significant as this cannot be done lightly...

To the motion, please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly support going to election on this matter. I think we have to ask the public whether or not they approve of this government's conduct. I am prepared to do that on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion, because I feel, as a Member of this Legislative Assembly, that the mandate I was given by the people of the Mackenzie Delta, has been undermined, not once but twice. Mr. Speaker, when my ability to do the job is in question, I would like to know what does my constituency want from me and should I go out and get another mandate?

For myself, I believe I have been undermined through the underhanded tactics of certain politicians and certain people, that I for one feel that it has affected my ability to do my job as an elected Member of the 14th Assembly, on the basis of not having the freedom or the ability to knowingly that I have done the best job I can for the people I represent, and having the ability to know that the issues I discuss or the way I vote, I can do it freely without knowing that I will be threatened or undermining my ability to do the best job for the people of the Mackenzie Delta.

I for one feel that what has happened here is about as low as you can get in regard to the relationship between our community leaders, our politicians, and the people that we serve, which people have used that avenue to divide people in our communities, and divide the leaders of our communities by taking sides on issues at the end of the day that only benefit a few.

For myself, I have always put the faith in the people that I serve. The faith in our elders, the faith in our youth, and the faith in our community leaders, but when that question is asked, and when your ability is undermined, you have to go back out to get another mandate, to see where you stand in the eyes of the electorate, in the people who put us here, not hide behind each other because you think that there is a threat looming out there, that the sky is falling. At the end of the day, we as elected Members of this Legislative Assembly have to get the respect of the people we are here to serve. My view is we have lost that.

We, as 19 Members, should do the honourable thing and go back out, put our names in regard to the ballot, and let the people in our communities say who they want to represent us. I am willing to do that, because I feel threatened by what has happened here, not once, but twice.

I have built a career in regard to politics by way of community politics, aboriginal politics, and now here, in the Legislative Assembly. My name is all I have to show for it. If I do not feel comfortable looking at myself in the mirror, knowing that I know I did the right thing, but was pressured to do something else...I think we should do the right thing.

I will be supporting this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the motion. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Lafferty, I would like to direct your attention to the motion. Stick to the motion, please.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Before I go to the next person on my list, I wish to draw the House's attention to the clock and that we are approaching 6:00 p.m., the hour of daily adjournment. I seek the House's direction. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 6(1) and have the House sit past the hour of daily adjournment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Range Lake is seeking unanimous consent to waive Rule 6(1) and to have the House sit past the hour of daily adjournment. Are there any nays? There are no nays. The House will continue to sit past its regular hours until the orders of the day are completed. Next on my list I have the honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against this motion. I have read the motion. I have some questions on the whereas clauses of this motion.

Mr. Speaker, as the motion states, we were elected into this House in December of 1999. I believe that we were given a mandate by the people who voted us in here. At least, I know that I was given a mandate by the constituents of Range Lake, to do the best job I can to represent them in this House for the duration of time that they elected me into this honourable House. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that there is anyone in this House with power to take that mandate away from me.

Mr. Speaker, as I think about this motion, and I have thought about this and other things that have been happening in this House, it has saddened me greatly to see what has transpired and some of the verbal exchanges that have happened. In all honesty, and in the deepest of my heart, I am not sure if, even if we had the power to do so and even if we were to deny the mandate that the people have given us, that it will serve the best interest of the people in dissolving this House.

Mr. Speaker, I am reminded of a phrase, you know, this is not our sandbox. This is a very serious place that we have been elected to be in to serve the people. This is an honourable House. This is where we were sent by the people to make important decisions. I think it is highly irresponsible for us to say okay, that some of us or all of us even disagree with something so badly that we are just going to pick up our toys and go home and we are going to ask somebody to send us back to the sandbox so that we could come back and play some more.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the issues the Members are raising. It is obvious to me that we have a lot of work to do, so where is the accountability on the part of the Members to say how can we make this work? There is no question in my mind that there is a lot of mending to do.

Mr. Speaker, for me, another reason that I cannot agree with this motion is that I simply have a lot of work to do. I went back and read my election platform, which is on my website, and there are a lot of things that I set out to work for on behalf of the people who elected me.

One of the things is a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan for health care professionals. We are on the verge of getting that, if I was to believe the promises made by the Minister of Health. I believe that I owe it to the people in my riding to see that happens, or at least do my best until the very last day to see that.

There are so many things in my platform that I had promised and I am not going to give up at this point and nobody here is going to take that mandate given to me by my people, the people who have elected me in this House. Mr. Speaker, I am not going to go into details of my platform, that is something that I share with my constituents.

The second thing, Mr. Speaker, I take a great offence to anybody here that suggests that somehow I have breached the oath I have sworn at the beginning of this Assembly. That is such a serious allegation. That cannot be made in the heat of the moment, in reaction to something or because we simply do not like the decisions that were made in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I more than any other person here have shown my temper. I have disliked many choices that were made here. I felt that I was violated at times, that my right to speak was breached. There were many occasions where I stayed up all night trying to think about what the best thing to do was. Never once did I think that I had the power to take the mandate of each Member of this House, which was given to them by the people they represent, by the people they were elected to come here for. I take great offence at anybody in this House that suggests that they have the power to take that away from the constituents of my riding.

Mr. Speaker, in one of the clauses it says that the Legislature is of the view that the electorate of the Northwest Territories must continue to hold the Legislative Assembly accountable for its actions. We speak often about the notion of accountability in this House, and under the system that we have, the only people I am accountable to are the people in Range Lake who have elected me into this House.

Going by the hits I am getting on my website, I have no doubt that this has been a hot issue. Mr. Speaker, I have gotten about 1,000 hits on my website on average this month, and I have seen a graph of it, and the highest graph height is on October 16th, October 25th and October 28th. On my website, there is, word for word, what I have said in this House. I know that in a small way I am being accountable to what I am saying in this House and I have been on the phone talking to people and I have found that when I talked to them and explained to them what is going on and why I am doing what I am doing or say the things I do or the positions I am taking or the votes I am doing, they understand.

They may not all agree, but they understand. I do not need anybody in this House telling me that I am not being accountable to the people who voted me in. In fact, I intend to take the time in the next days and weeks to go out there and explain more about what is going on in this House because as everyone here knows, when we are embroiled in the issues in this House we have very little time to be out there and to talk to the people. I need to do that.

I take offence to anybody who says that I am not being accountable in my job or that I have in any way breached my oath.

I am very puzzled about this clause in the motion that suggests that we are somehow violating the people's right to vote. That is just a point I want to make. I am not going to go there.

Mr. Speaker, on a final point I have said many times in this House that I believe this issue is a lot more than what is going on here. I think that if we had a heart and we really believed in the public interest of this Assembly and the people we serve that we owe it to ourselves to step back and look at why we are where we are and how we got to where we got to, and can we really say, can everyone of us really say that we are blameless?

I think there is enough indignation, righteousness, sanctimoniousness going around for everybody to share here. Equally, there is enough blame to go around for what has happened. As I walk around the hall of this Assembly, Mr. Speaker, and I have said that to a reporter, last week was not a good week for this Assembly. We had this Auditor General report that said things had to be changed and then we had a court decision that told us the same.

So we are walking around with two black eyes and I do not understand why the Members of this House are so much in a hurry to rush out there and show the world that we have two big black eyes that we have gotten from the authorities much higher and maybe wiser than we are, because we are so embroiled in the issues here that we cannot see from the top to the bottom.

I think we owe it to the people, we owe it to the issues we are dealing with here to deal with those two black eyes, to see how we can improve the situation and spend the rest of the time hopefully concentrating on the many, many issues that I cannot even go through and move on. For that reason, I will not be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, this House was asked to rule and provide direction on two issues stemming from the Auditor General's report. The House did that, clearly. The first recommendation, we agreed with the Auditor General's report. The House also did not agree with the second recommendation in regard to the resignation of the Premier. The decision has been made. We are now faced with another motion saying that because of those decisions the majority should be asked to dissolve and go to an early election.

This has been a long process, a heated debate. During the process, many of us have been vilified and pilloried. The issue of honour and integrity has been brought into question. I would like to clearly point out to all Members in this House that not one of us has a corner on honour and integrity. It is something that we all strive for. As you will find out, none of us are perfect. I stand here today to make that point.

We have been accused of things like misleading the House and other very, very serious accusations. I know there is a heated debate here. I would not trade this type of governance for any other type, but there have been some very strong things said in this House, and I can tell you right now that I as well am ready to go to election.

I answer to my constituents every day. As Minister I try to answer to the people of the Northwest Territories every day. Mr. Speaker, I will answer not only for this particular issue but I will answer for all the work and all the decisions that I have made during my term in the 14th Assembly.

Mr. Nitah said, what is the difference between three months and now? For me, that is one of the issues. We are talking a matter of months. We are in the last year of our term. I as Minister have a very aggressive agenda of things I am trying to accomplish with the departments and the health authorities. As the Member for Thebacha, I have a long list of issues on the go that I do not want to jeopardize in the last year because we have made a hasty decision.

So yes, Mr. Speaker, I am ready to answer to the people and I will answer to the people and I will answer on the date that this Assembly decided on when we were in Tl'oondih, which was November 24th. I will not be supporting this motion and I think we should concentrate on concluding the business of the 14th Assembly and the agenda we had for a better tomorrow.

Let's move on this. Mr. Speaker, I have been here for two Assemblies now and we have been, in one way or another, mired down for about five years in issues related to conflict and ethics and integrity and I think there is a tremendous sense of fatigue across the land with the issue.

I for one, if I can use Mr. Krutko's phrase, I for one would like to see us move ahead, vote on this motion, and let the will of the House be heard, and once it is heard, let's continue to move forward, because I as well have done my poll, and fully expect that we will be concluding our full term in the 14th Assembly, and we have to do it the best we can, through conciliation to do it together and to try to achieve all the issues for all the constituents in all constituencies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the motion. If there are no further speakers, then I will allow Mr. Roland, the mover of the motion, to conclude the debate. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard from a number of Members around the table with their concerns and speaking to the issue, and nobody here denies anybody's right to speak on or vote a certain way. That is the reason we have this style of government. We can all speak and vote as we feel our constituents would want us to.

Let me make it very clear, Mr. Speaker. The reason for this motion was not one of personalities. It is one of integrity, as I see it, and I agree with Minister Miltenberger. I sure do not have the corner on that. I am only just a man, but a man who has decided to live his life different from others, I guess, to try to be better than I was the day before.

Yes, there are, probably every day I have shortcomings and what I set out to do the morning I wake up. Mr. Speaker, every morning for the last number of months, I phone my wife before coming down...when I am down in Yellowknife, to a committee or to session, and we join together in a prayer to help us guide us in our day, to give us strength and to do the things that are right for our family and for this government.

Mr. Speaker, we have all fallen short at one time or another. This is not about where you fall short as a person. You fall short on your education. You fall short on your ability to speak out in this forum. It is about the rules that we have to follow and are set out before us, Mr. Speaker. Take the names away from the issue. Remove the personalities and look specifically at the issue. Would the outcome be the same?

I am not sure what the answer would be on that, but it is the issue here, is a question. As I said in speaking to this the other day, if it were a one-time incident, if it were an isolated incident, then this House, yes, clearly accepted what was put forward, but there is a trail here, Mr. Speaker, that the poorest tracker can find with the incidents involved that come to this.

I hope, Mr. Speaker, once we are done here, that Members will hopefully reflect on this, either as we go to the polls or as we continue to sit in this House and try to hold our seats as honourable Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly.

There will still be more heated debates in this arena, so that the people of the Northwest Territories know their interests are being addressed. I take my commitment seriously to my constituents. I do not know if we know any politician who can say that when they ran for election, that when they were done, the day they were done, the last day of the fourth year, that they can say I have accomplished everything that I set out to do. There is always some unfinished business, and there will always be some unfinished business. Sometimes that unfinished business, the torch has to be handed to the next person that would come along and take an honourable seat in this House.

A number of us Members here are just putting that forward. Let's restore integrity. Let's show the people of the Northwest Territories we are willing to follow our own rules.

There is a song, Mr. Speaker, that says the rich man makes the rules that the poor man must follow. We are not all rich around here, and I know when I am done this career, if it does turn into that, that my pension will not be one that I can ride off into the sunset with, but I have to dust my tools off and get back to work. Mr. Speaker, my time here, I want to remember it as serving at the best of my ability with the public confidence and trust that I will make decisions in the best interest of the public, not for a couple of individuals.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The debate on the motion is concluded. Is the House ready for a question? A recorded vote has been requested. All those in favour of the motion, please stand.

Thank you. All those opposed to the motion, please stand.