Mr. Chairman, I think it’s the issue of up and leaving residency. I’m not talking about going for prolonged holidays or personal reasons: if there was a need that drew someone away, that’s obvious and reasonable. It’s the issue of packing one’s bags, selling their house and establishing roots — whether it’s a job or whatnot — elsewhere. That’s the issue, really. It provides an element of a double standard, whereas if an MLA in this room picked up and moved their residence to Alberta or B.C., Ontario, who knows where, they would have been deemed to have resigned. That’s really the clause I’m suggesting
The Speaker is quite correct. It’s difficult to ask someone to commit to four years. But I look in this room, and there are 19 Members here who have committed four years of their life to a process and certainly a living experience in the sense of ensuring they’re part of the North. It’s the resignation process I’m stressing — I should say I’m requesting — be looked at, because again, you’re appointed as a statutory officer.
You know, in a lot of these I think it’s quite reasonable to assume you’re a resident of the Northwest Territories at the time of appointment. I think Northerners are capable of doing the job, and there’s certainly an interest. I would ascertain that from the public’s point of view it seems insulting to
the system that a commissioner is appointed to one of these positions and leaves. That’s the issue: I’d just like to see if it would be raised in the context where appropriate. Again, I’m not suggesting that every commissioner position needs to have that as a clause, but I think it’s a reasonable suggestion from my point of view and from a number of people both in my riding and within Yellowknife.