Mr. Chairman, that's exactly what I am asking for. Will there be input from the 14th Assembly to look at the policies and guidelines we follow and make recommendations to the Board of Management or the Speaker that these things should be changed or considered through the transitional document for the 15th Assembly, that these are things maybe you should look at through amendments of the Legislative Assembly Act or look at the acts and regulations they have in place. I will use an example, this just happened lately with regard to a funeral. I got a request from a constituent to go to a funeral. So you get the request, I got a letter from the band council in McPherson to attend a funeral. Then I am told you can't go because it's outside your constituency.
The North is a small place. Everybody knows each other. Regardless of where you are from either through marriage or relationships or whatever, we are spread out throughout the whole NWT. A constituent moves from one riding to another person's riding. In the North, these are day-to-day things. That's what makes us unique. Everybody has a connection to someone else. Yet, we don't draw lines on a map and say sorry, if you die on that side of the line, you are out of luck. That's what it's coming down to. My view is in things like that, common sense should apply. Common sense should state that there is a direct association between yourself and a constituent and a family member, that if that's what the community is requesting that you do, so be it. But because the way the rules are, you can't be seen in another constituent's riding or be seen in another geographical area because it's outside of your geographical constituency. Common sense things.
As a Legislature, sometimes these rules that were put in place go overboard and the whole aspect of accountability is getting so stringent that every time you want to do anything, you have to get permission. As a Member and an elected official of this government, there should be some leeway given to Members to say you are accountable to your constituency first, but you are also accountable to the expenditures you make as a Member. There has to be a balance there. As a government, we sometimes lose sight of who we are representing here. Are we becoming the bureaucracy within the bureaucracy or are we there as a Legislature to ensure we have the flexibility to carry out our duties as elected Members without being hindered or put into a situation where there are things that you want to do and you don't have the ability to do it. People in our communities that want us to do something, they think we can pick up the phone and do it just like that. If you say sorry, under this rule I can't do that, I am restricted, I can't be seen as fund raising or donating money. Yes, rules are okay but we are in a small geographical area. The way things are done in the North aren't done in Ottawa or wherever else.
My concern is we made amendments to the Legislative Assembly act and we made some changes to the way Members have to abide by certain rules and there are times that we should review those rules to make sure they are workable and are working for the extent that they were put in place for, but not to handcuff the Member from trying to carry out his responsibility. There have been a lot of arguments between staff people in the Legislative Assembly and Members. I think if that's happening, it tells me there is something wrong with the way people are interpreting the rules we have in place. I think we should look at our rules to see what's working and what's not. All I am asking for is that we have the opportunity to do that during the term of what's left of this 14th Assembly, so we consider making some recommendations to the 15th Assembly to consider those changes.