This is page numbers 13 - 38 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 1st Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was assembly.

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The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Notices of motion. Honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, October 22, 2007, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that the honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Glen Abernethy, and the honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bob Bromley, be appointed as deputy chairpersons of Committee of the Whole. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Mahsi.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Notices of motion. Honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, October 22, 2007, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on October 19, 2007, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, November 27, 2007; and further, any time prior to November 27, 2007, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, if the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Notices of motion. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Colleagues, before we go on to the next item on the agenda, the Chair is going to call a short break.

---SHORT RECESS

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Colleagues, let’s get back to orders of the day. Motions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with the motion he gave notice of earlier today. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may proceed with your motion, Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

WHEREAS the Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly

are mindful that it is an honour and a privilege to serve the people of the Northwest Territories as legislators;

AND WHEREAS the trust and confidence the people have placed in conferring this office upon us demands the highest standard of conduct, integrity and honour;

AND WHEREAS Members are resolved to do our utmost to hear the voices of all our people; preserve our traditions and bridge them with new ways to build our future; provide legislation, policies and services for the good of the people as individuals, families and communities; promote the equality of all our people; distribute resources fairly and justly; and respect and honour our land and all its inhabitants;

AND WHEREAS Members recognize that we owe to this Legislature respect as well as dedication to ensuring the integrity of our government and to earning the confidence of the people;

AND WHEREAS Members recognize that we owe to our constituents our best efforts at effective representation as well as accountability, honesty, fairness and courtesy;

AND WHEREAS Members recognize that we owe to the public a responsibility to work for the well-being of all residents of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS Members recognize that we owe to our colleagues fairness and respect for differences, and the duty to work together with goodwill for the common good;

AND WHEREAS Members are resolved not to act, nor condone others to act, in ways that exploit, slander or discriminate against others;

AND WHEREAS Members acknowledge a vision and a responsibility to improve the lives of our people and to act in creative ways to overcome the hardships which destroy life and hope and the human frailties which fall upon us;

AND WHEREAS Members are resolved not to act, nor condone others to act, in ways which are dishonest or which exploit positions of privilege for personal gain;

AND WHEREAS paragraph 75 (a) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act provides that each Member shall perform his or her duties of office and arrange his or her private affairs in such a manner as to maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of the Member;

AND WHEREAS past Assemblies have seen fit to adopt principles to guide Members’ conduct;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that this Legislative Assembly formally adopts the “Members’ Conduct Guidelines” as appended and which forms part of this resolution.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief because the motion that I read basically says it all. There were a couple of points I did want to make. I brought this motion forward willingly because I truly believe that, as elected representatives, we have to follow the guidelines. This is just putting it on paper and putting the motion together, but we have to follow it because we should believe in it. We have to be able to come to work every morning, treat our colleagues with

respect, treat them with integrity and some may wonder about that sometimes with some of the stuff that goes on in this Assembly, but we need to be able to go home in the evening, look ourselves in the mirror and have no problem with that reflection looking back at us because we’ve done what we set out to do. I believe in this motion. I try to abide by it. It’s not just the motion that I try to abide by it, it’s the honestly and the integrity. I think that’s something we need to bring to this Assembly. I think it’s something, in my couple of weeks here getting to know everybody, I think everybody here will agree to the same thing. We have to go about our work with integrity. We have to be honest. We’ve had issues in the past, but that’s where they should be left. They should be left in the past and we should go forward from here.

This is a motion that I truly believe in. It’s a motion that I willingly brought forward and I wanted to be the mover of this motion. I believe in all the principles that it says in this motion. It’s a very broad motion. It shouldn’t be just a play on words. We shouldn’t just throw these words around loosely; accountability, integrity, honesty. These are words that we should believe in and we should bring them to this institution. I believe in this institution. We should bring them here and this is something we have to believe in, otherwise, if you don’t believe in all these principles, we may as well just stay home because we won’t be serving anybody any good if we come down here and we have the wrong attitude and we don’t believe in the principles of integrity and honour.

So it’s an honour, Mr. Speaker, for me to bring this motion forward because it’s something that I truly believe in and it’s just not a play on words for myself. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to support the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Inuvik. I would like to fully support this motion. He’d mentioned some words and I would also like to underline some that I read, trust and confidence, something we’ve spoken about amongst ourselves. That’s highly important. We need to hear the voices of all our people, respect and honour our land. The word “respect” is something I have heard many times from our elders. I think the biggest thing for me, Mr. Speaker, is the power of example. We are real leaders of the Northwest Territories. People are looking to the House for leadership. The power of example is huge in all we do and I think that’s the thing that really brings home my support to this.

Honour and privilege, dishonour can lead to a revocation of privilege. That’s something we should be keeping in mind.

Finally, working for the common good. To me, I really appreciate the work that’s gone into putting the Members’ Conduct Guidelines together and fundamentally I think it’s to ensure that we do focus on working for the common good. Thank you very much.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to give…Oh sorry.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

To the motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very gratified to this motion coming before the House. I fully support this motion. As I look at the Members’ Conduct Guidelines, similar to the previous several Speakers, there are a number of words that jump out at me. Within our guidelines, it talks about fair, just, respect, honour, courtesy, duty, integrity and responsibility, just to name a few of them. I think it behoves all of us to take these conduct guidelines, that we must accept them. I agree that we need to lead by example and I think as well as agreeing to the letter of this particular set of guidelines, we have to live them and we have to honour the law within these particular guidelines.

It is our responsibility to respect, honour each other, this House, this institution, the people that we serve. I think that I get a sense that every Member in this House is likely to support this motion and I would strongly urge you to do so, if you aren’t already considering that. Thank you very much.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I fully support the motion in terms of the Members’ Conduct Guidelines and support what my colleagues have said here today. I think it was mentioned earlier this week that we want to, as a group of 19 MLAs, we want to end up four years from now with the same 19 Members that are assembled here today. I think that’s a goal that we should all try to get to.

There are some things being Members of the Legislative Assembly, we come here and on the floor of the House there are certain rules that are in place that protect Members. You can speak on behalf of your constituents. You don’t have to worry about repercussions or people saying things. You can deal with rules that are here on the floor of the House. For me, it’s how you carry yourself not only here on the floor of the House, but how you conduct yourselves outside of here in your personal life and in the hallways upstairs or in your communities. You have to lead by example. You have to have trust, you have to have honour and you need integrity. Mr. Speaker, these are virtues that I hold true to myself. I try to do everything I do with a degree of integrity. I believe government needs to operate under those same virtues and with those same principles in mind. Certainly, I believe we need to take a look at the direct appointment process. I think we have to put an end to nepotism in this government. We really need to have a look at that process and how friends reward friends and how families reward families. We are here to represent the people of the Northwest Territories, not our friends, not our families. We need to take a look at that, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I fully support the conduct guidelines that are before us today and look forward to living under the rule of those guidelines for the next four years, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to also support this motion. I will make a very short comment to say we all know that we can have all the rules and we already have the laws in the books, outside and inside of here. We can all be on very good behaviour without rules. No rules in the world can govern the best behaviour if it’s not the person who is making the decisions acting to the best standard of integrity. I want to just say that I think, with or without these guidelines, I think a lot of Members are honourable; most Members are. We all work here very hard and everybody has worked really hard in the last Assembly and I am sure we will do that as well. We know of some circumstances where we need to recheck the rules and I am glad at the very beginning of this Assembly that we are able to have this discussion and approve that. It’s the minimum standard and I would just like to add my voice to thank the Members for bringing this forward and I will be voting in favour of this motion. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. Honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as well, I would like to thank the Members for bringing this forward. I believe it’s something we all have to live by and as we heard already, it’s not only saying the words, but it’s going to be living the words in the example we set to those who watch us and have given us the privilege of serving them in this institution. So I want to say I support this and I expect that as Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly, we are going to be showing people and walking the talk, so to speak, that we are going to live by what we said and that means there are times when we will come to a disagreement in this forum, but we are going to respect each other in our positions and work with each other to ensure we serve the people of the Northwest Territories to the best degree possible. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. Honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also support this motion. I believe, as a Member of this House, we are expected to act on a higher standard as to how we are seen in the eyes of the public. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, with that power, we should not be seen to be exploiting others or other individuals who have lesser standards in our society, people with less standards of living or poorer conditions. If anything, we are the voice of the people. We have to be seen to be acting for the well-being of all our residents regardless of what their stature is.

Mr. Speaker, I have been here for four terms and it is sad to say that every Legislature I have been in, we have had a situation where we were all tarred with the same brush and it’s sad to say that’s all that the people can remember of a certain Legislature is how we conducted ourselves in a bad manner, which leaves us all with a sour taste in our mouth.

Again, to uphold the rules, we do have to set a higher standard to the people of the Northwest Territories, our

constituents and the common good of all our people. We must do what we must do best. Never lose sight that you are under a microphone. You are being looked at of setting a higher standard than every one of our residents, because we are 19 Members who will be establishing the laws of this land and also expected to enforce those laws and we are not above the law.

---Applause