Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, a democracy is about representing the people, giving them a voice and treating them with fairness and respect towards fair, responsible and responsive government. Being an MLA, a representative of the people in the Weledeh constituency, is a huge honour and a huge responsibility. But there is one thing I most fully appreciate. It is the privilege provided to me on behalf of my people to be heard and to have my opinions and perspectives justly considered by the government.

When MLAs are elected to the Executive, their responsibilities increase. These honoured and privileged people must shoulder the extra burden of trust. This trust is associated with the extra responsibility of knowing many things not

commonly known and making final decisions to a lasting benefit to all of our people. Finally, with having to assume the leadership in treating our public with respect and with ensuring them their opportunities for direct input on issues. This last responsibility, ensuring public input, is done both through ensuring that the opportunities for meaningful input from Regular MLAs is constantly realized and through providing for thoughtful consultation via the flow of thorough information and analysis in which to receive feedback.

Much of this is a matter of communication, but we cannot assume that good communication is easy or automatic. It begins with the recognition of responsibilities in this area followed by a commitment to play in these obligations in an intentional manner. To do so brings substantial rewards of good judgment, good decisions and an engaged Assembly and a public. Failure on this front is what brings us to where we are today.

Examples of these failures are numerous by now; a sorry list that’s familiar to many: the Deh Cho Bridge, reductions in personnel and spending, Strategic Initiatives Committees that we heard our Premier mention this morning -- a group of committees that, overall, produced such gobbledy gook, such pact, that we did indeed refuse to participate in them -- review of boards and agencies, the supplementary health benefits issue and its impacts on our seniors and those with pre-existing conditions, et cetera, the Opportunities Fund and so on, others that are painful to mention. The angst, the fear, the painful frustration this government has engendered amongst our public is shameful. This at a time when people are dealing with the rising cost of living and now the recession and all the normal trials and tribulations of life to date.

Mr. Speaker, we did not have the confidence of our public when they realized we, their duly elected representatives to this consensus government, were turning to them for information on what our Cabinet was doing and deciding. Things have become so dysfunctional that the person on the street was better informed about significant decisions made by our Executive Council than their own representatives.

Mr. Speaker, the judgment of our Premier in relation to his relationship with our clerk reflects poor judgment. His inability to share the responsibility for this bad judgment further undermines my confidence in his ability to be our leader.

In our Premier and some Members of our Cabinet, they put trust that was given to them in this House and failed to engage the public on crucial issues time and again. We are required to react.

The motion we have before us today is not one that is put forward lightly, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier said this morning, we have repeatedly raised our concerns, but to no avail. I and my fellow MLAs have been trying to work with this Cabinet and have voiced our concerns over and over again, but despite the Premier professing to hear our pleas, we have seen no change.

Public accountability is the keystone of a democracy and this government has shown that they are accountable to none but themselves. If we allow this to continue, we as MLAs would be failing to uphold the principles we swore an oath to protect.

As I said before, this government’s communications record is a crime against our people and it now begs some kind of final resolution. Mr. Speaker, I will be acting to perform my obligations by supporting this resolution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

At the outset I have to say that I’m dismayed that this motion has come to the floor. But it’s nothing that I take lightly. It was a long time in coming and I think I want everybody to know that this is not something which was a spur of the moment decision on anybody’s part. I had hopes that we as the 16th Assembly could have found a

different or better solution, but there is none to be had.

I feel that I am driven to this step for a number of reasons, and these are my own personal reasons, my own views, my own opinions, my own feelings. Primary among these reasons is a loss in confidence in the Premier and Executive Council as a group. Some Ministers have performed well; some Ministers poorly. Similar to Mr. Abernethy, I feel that some Ministers belong in Cabinet and were the opportunity given to me, I would put them back there.

But I want to emphasize that for me it is a loss of confidence in the group. I am concerned for our Territory. I am concerned for our residents. I don’t feel any comfort that this Executive is working for the best interest of the whole of the NWT. The culture of this Cabinet and its Premier is insular, adversarial, and inward looking. I’m sorry to have to use those words.

There is a lack of cohesiveness amongst this group. Each of the seven Members of the Executive seem to operate independently of the others. Actions are taken by one Minister that the others are unaware of. An example: For the last four to five months I’ve been asking the Premier’s office for the NWT government’s response to the federal government in regards to the McCrank Report. I was assured several times that it was being developed, that coordination was required because several departments were involved, and that I and other Members would get a copy once it was complete. Imagine my surprise when I was told two weeks ago by the Premier’s office that a letter of response about the McCrank Report had gone to INAC’s Minister Strahl in early December of 2008 from the Minister of ENR, apparently without the Premier’s knowledge. If this is the government’s considered coordinated response, why was the Premier not involved?

This example is indicative to me of the “every man for himself” attitude that permeates this Cabinet. Not only have I lost confidence in this Premier and Executive, but so has the public. For months now I’ve been hearing from constituents and members of the general public that they see the government as inadequate and ineffective. They don’t believe that this government is taking us anywhere; that we are as a ship adrift at sea on an aimless journey, no visible charted course.

On the flip side I feel that the long-term goals of this Cabinet and its Assembly are good, but the short-term actions are sorely lacking. On the negative side there’s this comment from a constituent: “For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.”

A second reason is in my short time as an MLA I’ve perceived a distinct lack of leadership from the Premier and the Executive and I feel that the leadership has to come from that group of seven people. I elected seven people to positions of authority and accountability, expecting that they would take charge of this Assembly’s goals and objectives and those goals and objectives that we set as 19 Members back in October 2007. I expected they would take our goals and objectives and lead us forward. I expected them to fill the sails of our ship with wind and move us purposely to the harbour. I don’t see that leadership, nor do I see that purposeful forging ahead that I anticipated 16 months ago. We need to make some personnel changes to get the leadership and the attitude that this Territory needs to forge ahead.

Thirdly, the communication from this Cabinet has been woefully inadequate and ineffectual. I mean communication to both our residents and stakeholders and to us as Regular MLAs. Comments made in the press by Ministers have

been contrary and unnecessarily blunt. Ideas and actions put forward by Cabinet have been presented to constituents and to MLAs as a fait accompli, a done deal. What I hear that’s telling me from Cabinet is, don’t bother telling us what you think; we don’t care and we’ll do what we want no matter what. Unfortunately, perception is nine-tenths of the law and the public perception is that this Cabinet is running a dictatorship, not consensus government.

The word “consultation” does not seem to be in the vocabulary of this Executive Council. Witness the presentation of the Board Reform Initiative and the Supplementary Health Benefits Program policy. In both cases the model has been predetermined by Cabinet. That model to be implemented is not in question or for debate, only how it will happen. That’s hardly consultation, in my view. Where is the openness to other ideas? Where is the openness to the consideration of a different way of implementation?

I am constantly amazed at the reticence of this Cabinet to use the considerable collective wisdom and experience of the Regular Members’ P and P committee to vet their initiatives and significant policy changes before making a Cabinet or an FMB decision. This group of 11 has a lot to offer. Why do you persist in ignoring a thoughtful, willing and cost-effective sounding board?

We’re at a point in the life of this Assembly where a review of our Executive Council is due. We could wait for the halfway point of this Assembly -- that would be October upcoming -- but I feel it would then be too late. The review must occur now. This motion provides that opportunity; the opportunity for a review of the Premier and all Members of Cabinet. It’s an opportunity for Members to reaffirm their confidence in those Ministers whom they feel deserve their confidence. Who those people are depends on each of us as Members. We all have different experiences which colour our opinions and feelings, and thus there are differing views on the worth of each Minister.

Should this motion pass, a Territorial Leadership Council will be held. I hope that all the current Ministers will submit their names for a Cabinet post. I think they all should. The Leadership Council process will allow us all to consider the record of Ministers over the last 16 months, and any Minister who has the confidence of this House will be reinstated to their post.

To conclude, this motion may seem like a drastic measure, but it is, for me, a necessary one. I regret we couldn’t find another way to send our message to those across the floor and I regret that I must support this motion.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Before I go on I’d like to move a motion.

I move, pursuant to subsection 6.(2) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly, that this Assembly continue to sit beyond the hour of daily adjournment to conclude the item under consideration.

---Carried

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I believe that a review of the Executive Council is necessary and should be a standard practice of our consensus style of government.

Firstly, I’d like to thank the many phone calls and e-mails of concern from Nahendeh residents on the potential upset of government. The concern of the interruption of services, existing negotiations and working relationships is a real one and I acknowledge that. I also thank those that shared equal support for this action as well.

I have been consistent in requesting a review of our Cabinet at the two-year mark. There was enough momentum and concern during this sitting to introduce this review sooner than later.

Previous Assemblies have reviewed Cabinet, but the mechanism was agreed to at the start of their term. Regretfully, we did not entertain or take the time to fully agree on the process to review our Executive Council. The only way that we can have a say is to put forward this motion. The wording is harsh. The implications create uncertainty and unrest amongst our people. Revocation of the Premier and Executive Council. However, for me it is a statement to our government and this House that this consensus style of government must include such a review. I really believe that the messaging of this motion is to ask Cabinet to continue working with us.

I want to speak a little bit about the calls and concerns of the people that are sitting and working together. In my previous career working with Enbridge Pipelines, which had a very tense and local working conditions and conflict of personalities, the managers sat us down and said look, you’re not paid to like each other, you’re paid to work together. I’d like to send that message to this House here today as well. After reflection upon this, our working relationships did improve.

As well, I just want to speak about how Cabinet work is a reflection of me as an MLA and how I do my work. When I’m unable to get answers or get negative answers, I have to report to my constituents and tell them this is the response. It’s me that they’re not happy with, not the Cabinet’s decision.

As well, in terms of the recent Discovery Air loan, I went home with many constituents coming to see me who said, you must have known about this loan. Why didn’t you say something about it? We did have a briefing, but I never really did have a say. But constituents do not know that. All they know is that I’m part of government and I must have had a say. I couldn’t really defend that either. What I can say is it’s instances like that which create this disharmony. When Cabinet has to work with us, they can’t really come to us and say this is for your information and expect us to make a proper explanation of it to our constituents and members of the public that are concerned about the many, many issues that affect them and that we have control over. I think that’s just it. To say that I’m outside the process and I have no control does not carry water.

I think this motion, like I said, harsh as it is, I’m going to support it. For me it’s about review of the Executive Council and, as well, unless they’re beginning to say, look, something’s wrong here, Cabinet, something’s wrong here, government, it must be addressed and this is one way that I choose to address it.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I am not in support of this motion. Originally I seconded this motion and supported it. I withdrew my support for the motion because I felt that some of the Ministers that we voted for only 16 months ago still have the ability to carry this government forward. There’s no guarantee that the approach of taking the entire Cabinet out would put those Ministers back in.

I have lost the confidence in the abilities of some of the Cabinet Members. I lost the confidence that some of Cabinet have the ability at this time to move this government forward where the people in the small communities would benefit. I came into this Legislature and saw a lot of inequity between what is provided to the larger communities of the Northwest Territories and what’s provided to the smaller communities.

If this motion is not carried, Cabinet should look at itself. They should look at themselves and say, wow, we just made it. However, most of the Regular MLAs that represent the majority of the

people of the Northwest Territories do not have confidence in us, so don’t hold your heads too high. If this motion is not carried, some of the Cabinet Members better thank their Cabinet colleagues for the fact that some Cabinet Members still have the confidence of some people from this side of the floor.

My non-support of this motion does not mean that Cabinet has 100 percent of my support and 100 percent of the support of the people of Tu Nedhe. There are some dysfunctions in Cabinet and that is very apparent. Cabinet better become functional and start looking and making sure that the people in the small communities are given and afforded the same things that are afforded to the larger communities. My issue has always been that; that we come here to represent people here as equals and we represent everybody in the Northwest Territories as equal. That’s not the way things go.

Under any other circumstance this should be a wakeup call for Cabinet. If this motion was not such a broad-brush motion, if it was more focused, I would be here supporting the motion. Cabinet should not feel satisfied that some people from this side are not in support of this motion. Cabinet should look at themselves and say there’s something wrong when the majority of the House on this side hangs up and does not support what they’re doing.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is one of the toughest positions as an MLA that I’ve found myself in. We’ve got a lot of issues at play here and it seems that both sides have come to an impasse, which brings us to the motion that is before us today.

I think there was a way out. There was a way that maybe it didn’t have to go this way. Maybe we didn’t have to end up on the floor of the House moving a motion to remove the entire Executive and the Premier. I think that is excessive. For the folks out there it is a drastic, drastic measure. But you know what? Tough times call for tough measures.

When we’re not receiving any information, when Cabinet is making decisions such as the recent loan off the Opportunities Fund, people are asking us questions on the street. People on the street do not differentiate between a Regular Member and a Cabinet Minister. They think -- and my colleague Mr. Menicoche alluded to this -- that we’re privy to the same information that Cabinet is. That’s not always the case. I know Cabinet cannot share every bit of detail and information with Regular Members, but on something as substantive as a

$34 million loan, a risky loan, out of the Opportunities Fund, I believe it’s incumbent upon the leadership of this Territory to share that information with Members.

Now, the policy and the process that allowed that to happen is something else that is very, very suspect.

Again, I don’t understand how two Ministers could show up to a meeting on two consecutive different times over two days and not have one piece of paper, not one single solitary piece of evidence that the $34 million we are putting into that loan out of the Opportunities Fund and putting the public purse at risk was a good thing to do. They came twice, they had no information and that speaks volumes about the way Cabinet takes Regular Members for granted, Mr. Speaker. I personally was offended by that and it’s something that shouldn’t happen. You know, what we need to do, folks, is we need to try to find a way to work together.

I don’t know if Members here have talked about the issue with Premier Roland and the situation he was in before Christmas. My assertion early on, and I told Premier Roland this and I respect Premier Roland, I respect the work that’s done on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, but he got himself into a situation that was certainly a conflict of interest. My belief was that he should have resigned and we should have moved on. Nobody in this Territory wants to see us in this House fighting with each other and personally I am getting very, very tired of fighting with Cabinet, you know? I am not going to apologize. I am not going to stand here and apologize for doing my job. That’s what I am here to do. My constituents send me here, they voted for me and they sent me to this House to do my job. I ask questions and to be honest with you, Mr. Speaker, the level of detail on the questions coming out of the government in the 16 months that we’ve been here in the 16th Legislative

Assembly has been poor. Let’s be honest with one another. Oftentimes questions aren’t even answered and I am not sure why that is the case, but it is the case, Mr. Speaker.

Some of this going back and forth in the media, there’s been a lot of discussion in the media. I have been quoted in the media saying maybe the entire Executive Council should come out. I do support the motion, but I do have a tremendous amount of confidence in the skills and the abilities of many of my colleagues over there. We are colleagues, Mr. Speaker, and I respect everybody over there. However, some of them have put themselves in a position where they’ve lost the confidence of the House and a mid-term review would be coming up in October anyway. This is another way to get to

that mid-term review. We aren’t quite there yet, but given the gravity of what’s been going on…

You know, I talked about the loan to Discovery Air; the supplemental health benefits. You know, why the government would go out and cause the angst and the anger out in the community across the Northwest Territories with a shoddy piece of work. Somebody at the Department of Health and Social Services is responsible for that leaving this building, going out across the land in the state that it went out to scare the life out of everybody. People are so scared that they are going to pack up and leave the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. That’s not what this government...The government on one hand says we want to keep people here, we want to trap people here, but then on the other hand they’re slapping seniors in the face and people with chronic medical conditions and they’re not thinking before they do things.

Mr. Speaker, the biggest problem for me, and I‘ve said this in this House before, I am a decision maker. I like to make decisions for a living. That’s why I studied political science. That’s why I got involved in politics. That’s why I like to represent people, my constituents. In order to make a sound decision, you need to have some analysis. You need to have some background information. What I’ve seen far too often from this government is you make your decisions without doing the proper analysis. It goes to board reform, the supplemental health benefit changes. The list goes on and on. We go back to when we were first elected, Mr. Speaker, and we got together as a group of 19 Members. It was shortly thereafter what we talked about, some fundamental issues that were important to Members on this side and Cabinet Ministers. We talked about those things, we put them up on the wall at the Baker Centre. We went away and it wasn’t a month later that the new Cabinet, newly sworn-in Cabinet, seemed to switch directions on us 180 degrees, $135 million in reductions, all these Strategic Initiatives Committees. We had never talked about any of that. What Regular Members wanted or what Members wanted after that election was the government to go out and do the work that was necessary to find out exactly where we were spending the money and which programs and services were working and which weren’t. I know you have a program review office up and running now. I’m looking forward to some of the work that’s going to come out of that, but that’s the kind of thing that as a decision maker, you need to have the information at hand to make decisions. I am not sure what Cabinet is basing their decisions on.

You know, I don’t know if you can lay the entire blame at the feet of Cabinet on this. I think the bureaucracy itself needs to be shaken up, Mr. Speaker, if you will. You know, some of the work

these guys are getting is coming from the bureaucracy that I believe is giving these guys not all the information, not the correct information. You know, we need to take our senior management here in the Northwest Territories to task and that’s the job of the Cabinet and I haven’t seen enough of that, Mr. Speaker. I think that’s another thing we have to get at.

Now in terms of communication, that’s a two-way street and I think Regular Members too, we are part of this as well. The communication goes back and forth. The communication from the Cabinet to the public has been poor. Communication between the Premier’s office hasn’t been what it could be. Now is that an issue of personalities or is it an issue of something else? You know, we have to address those things. If it’s egos, if it’s personalities, we need to sit down…It’s too bad we couldn’t have locked ourselves in a room somewhere and sorted this out. Surely we could have worked something out. I don’t understand why it has to come to a motion on the floor of the House to remove the entire Executive Council and the Premier. It just didn’t need to happen this way, folks. I am personally getting tired of the back and forth. It’s like a soap opera. It doesn’t need to be that way.

Personally, Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to be seen as a guy who tears things apart. I don’ t want to be that guy. I want to be seen as a guy, a person, who can help build things and can help make things better for residents of the Northwest Territories. There are a lot of people out there across the Northwest Territories today who are questioning what we are doing here today. And they have every right to question what we are doing here today, but believe me this wasn’t arrived at just yesterday. This has been working itself up, working itself up. There are a number of issues that brought us here and, Mr. Speaker, I really wish there was another way. Like I said, the Ministers that have my full support and my confidence, you know who you are. Those who don’t, that’s the way it is, Mr. Speaker.

The other thing that has been bothering me lately is the fact that some Cabinet Ministers are saying this motion is based on sheer political ambition and motivation. You’re wrong. It’s not built on that. It’s built on the fact that we want to get a government here for the people by the people and when you’re not listening to us, you’re not listening to the people of the Northwest Territories, folks. That’s why I am here and, you know, it’s not out of political ambition; although I shouldn’t be ashamed if I have some political ambition, and I do. I don’t mind saying that, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, I am not ashamed of it. I don’t think that should be held over my head for standing up for what I know is right and speaking my mind. I will continue to do that. I

will not be intimidated by anybody or be bullied by anybody. My parents taught me to stand up to bullies and that’s what I do, Mr. Speaker. That’s why I support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Chamber today to inform the Assembly and my constituents that I cannot support this motion that is one that in a sweeping way fires the current Premier and entire Cabinet indiscriminately. No one can deny that we in the NWT face unparalleled recession, economic downturn that is deepening, and it’s even finding threats here in the North where once we believed that we had an economic boom led by diamonds, the pipeline and even hydro.

Let’s not mince words here. This is a time of uncertainty for many people whose jobs could be affected by this economic climate. This is a time of despair for those who have been laid off or for those who have businesses that are floundering or even potentially failing any day now. This is a time of worry for all of us with investments and pension plans, which we assumed would carry us through the golden years. These are the times we are living in.

At this crucial time Northerners are looking to this Assembly for stability, leadership and principled decisions. This House is built on the ability to define consensus within itself. In the best traditions of this Assembly, this should be a time where we put ambition and politics aside, where we come together and provide sound leadership and courageous decision.

We are at one of those points I’d like to call political interception, where hard decisions have to be made. The people of the North should be able to look inside these walls and find that every single Member is working as creatively and passionately as possible to meet those enormous challenges that are hitting us day after day.

Yet, what do the people of the North find when they look inside this Assembly’s walls? They see a set of people who have been distracted; some by opportunism, some by anger, some cloaking it under patriotism. Everyone has their own motives. Many are right; many are wrong.

I also see the people looking into this Assembly and seeing it paralyzed by power brokering and anger. They see in the leaders that they have elected an inability to set aside their differences for the greater good of our people of the North. That goes on both sides of this House.

Instead of inspiring policy and unity, they see divisiveness and disarray. This is not what the people of this Territory expect from them. This is not why I ran.

Extraordinary times call for unprecedented leadership. That leadership rests not just on the Premier, that rests on every single one of us. So we must find the greatness within all of us, the ability to cast aside our differences. Our personal favourites and principles must find a way to find progress. We must find a way.

We need to ask and set aside dislike. We need to find forgiveness, because nothing less should be expected from us in these difficult times. For this is a time of collaboration and not compensation. If Regular Members have issues with particular Members of Cabinet, then let’s have that discussion to the people and have our courage and conviction, and say name them by name and we’ll deal with them one by one. At the same time, the accused will have their say. Isn’t that the way to move forward? Isn’t that the way to deal with this problem?

To sweep out the entire Premier and Cabinet in a single sweep is not a responsible answer, in my view. Removing seven to get to one or two is not a level-headed approach, from my view. I’ve had many e-mails speaking to that as well. In fairness, I’ve had a few e-mails that think this motion is the right approach.

Let’s assume that this motion passes. Will it all be fine tomorrow? I’m not so sure. There’s no plan of leadership, so I think that creates a destination of failure.

If this motion passes, for me it will mark truly one of the saddest days; a day in which, when called upon to run parallel leadership and collaboration in the name of the people of the Northwest Territories, this Assembly chose to paralyze its frustration in the hour when people need us most.

In opposing this motion I will not let difficult decisions and discussions which I’ve had with a number of Ministers cloud what is important here today. I know when I’ve spoken to many of the Cabinet Ministers they have listened and respected the views I’ve taken on positions. Sometimes they’ve agreed; sometimes they haven’t. They haven’t chosen to budge on the issues I’ve raised, but there was still mutual respect. And make no mistake, I’ve been disappointed, but the fight goes on. The fight goes on on behalf of my constituents.

There are no faults and contempt out there that have made this Cabinet so rotten we must humble every single one of them by throwing them out in a single stroke of a single vote. I did not become a

Member of this Assembly to watch the liquidation of common sense and sound judgment, because we can do better than this. We can do better in what we are doing now. So I will not let the actions of some say this is the only way, because I am telling you this is not the only way.

What is right for the people of the North is to say we can work this out. Because we can do better. The people deserve and are entitled to an Assembly that, when faced with crisis, is willing to put aside differences for common good. This Assembly must call upon its inner strength to end its differences among itself. It is not for itself to the people of the North. I know no singular better reason than to work for that end.

Many have gotten e-mails saying this is the only way to end board reform. Many e-mails have come forward saying this is the only way to end the supplementary benefits changes. I say there are other ways. I say we will have votes on those. I say we will be in positions to hold budgets hostage and put our opinions clearly on the floor. I will say that this Assembly has still much work to be done on both sides of this House.

In closing, I’m going to say that I believe we can do better. This motion calls upon a significant change in the way we do business and I cannot let personal conflict or frustration lead the day, because deep down inside I know we can do better together.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last couple days I’ve had some pretty early mornings thinking about how the motion is going to be discussed, and how it’s going to be talked about amongst the 18 MLAs in the House here, and what the interpretations might be in the public in terms of what we are looking at and what we are doing. What are the different analyses of the meetings? What are the interpretations of the meetings? How will this play out in our communities? How will this play out amongst ourselves? Looking to this day as to how it will roll out.

The motion, as I read it, is a strong signal to this leadership, specifically to the Executive Council, about the sentiments, the thoughts and feelings from the MLAs who are considered the Regular MLAs. This motion wasn’t something that came overnight. The other Members have talked about and I had thought about this and had a discussion with Mr. Roland yesterday as to is this salvageable. Is this something we can fix? I was thinking, where in our life did we get to a point that this motion has to be on the floor. Something we could have done.

I had some e-mails saying don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. So I was thinking that day where in our system that it got to this point.

This motion is speaking to that point. I don’t know if it’s pride. I don’t know if it’s blaming. I’m not too sure if it’s the recent briefing that we got on Discovery Air or the additional information we got from the Ministers on this Opportunities Fund that says okay, that’s it, or maybe other factors.

It’s about leadership that Members talk about; the strong signal to leadership. It’s all of us. We operate in a very unique system; a system that Members on this side are the majority and the Executive Council is the minority. This is what this motion maybe is signalling to the people of the Northwest Territories, that consensus government is strong and alive, that the people in the Northwest Territories need to know that we need to work together. They have told us: work together. Our elders have told us: work together.

Twenty years ago the Sahtu Tribal Council in Deline, Fort Franklin at that time, us young leaders, we were fighting amongst ourselves. Maybe this is déjà vu, but elders stopped us in that meeting and the elders scorned us as young leaders rising up and helping the people in the Sahtu region. They actually put us in our place. We went back to work again. Hard feelings were set amongst ourselves in the Sahtu region. Thank God for the elders that told us what we needed to hear even though we didn’t want to hear it. That’s part of our culture. That’s what we bring into this Assembly here. We bring those values, those upbringings into the Assembly.

My comments to this motion from a small community is that there needs to be, as the Minister indicated in his territorial budget, a storm. There’s got to be a shaking in terms of how we respond to the people in our communities. It’s got to be a real hard shake in terms of this is what we’re going to do for our people in our communities, because we still lack the basic infrastructure of health care. Our people are still being diagnosed months, years after they have seen the hospital with cancer, leukemia, other sicknesses, something basically is wrong. We’re just not getting the work done. Cabinet has indicated through many good proposals about what they’re going to do. Fair enough. Not all programs and services can be equal across the Northwest Territories because of numbers and economics, but there’s got to be some basic services to be brought about amongst our discussions to say yes, when we go into one of the communities, you can have this service here, not every six weeks, not every three months, but you can have this basic service.

Elders in our communities have talked about things that they want. Dust control is one. Why are elders going to Wal-Mart and buying filters in the summertime, putting them in the house and changing them because of the amount of dust? That program was evolved through other means to funding the communities, but we know the communities, they need more than more basic services and they compete against each other. So we allow them to fight amongst themselves to say what do you want.

I think there are some basic services that this government really needs to be serious about. Our education system for example. Elders have talked about how we should improve our education system for our people, but we somehow have to follow the Alberta curriculum. When I was sitting down with an elder the other day, in talking about some of these things, one of the things I researched as to why is it that we have some of our ceremonies passed on by our elders. Couldn’t get it. Mr. Speaker, the reason why we have some of our ceremonies is because it reminds us where we come from, how we grew up in our communities, what makes us unique as a human being, either Dene or a Metis or even a...(inaudible)...that makes us unique. I do know that as an aboriginal person these ceremonies should be taught as mandatory in our schools. I brought up the issue of picking berries. Students picking berries is a very special ceremony. But, no, we compete with this academic curriculum because we have to prepare our children for the future, but we’re not really balancing it properly. I haven’t yet seen from this side that these are core programs that should be in the education system, spring time, fall time, winter and summer. There are certain things that really need to be important. Elders have told me this.

Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member from Nahendeh is correct because we also get questioned on things that we aren’t privy to. Again, on one hand, we have to defend or are put in the position of defending some things that we’re not privy to. We’re not here every day and not in our system, to understand the system, how we work the system. There are very good people across here that work for us. Strong message that we need to work really hard for us, especially in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say to Cabinet, people in my region, we are taught many times as to where this government is going to go. We have heard or read mostly about one of my constituents in Norman Wells. I think unofficially she’s the Minister of Transportation of highways. She is so adamant and insistent about talking about something she believes in. Mr. Speaker, there are different opinions as to her comments in the paper. Mr.

Speaker, she is an elder in my region. She is someone that has the belief and the vision that something could get done in the Northwest Territories such as extending the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I guess from our side, I guess from myself, I’d like to fight for something that’s worthwhile fighting for such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I was very disappointed, Mr. Speaker, hearing the federal government not making any mention of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I know this Cabinet has made efforts to get the Prime Minister to see something that could be done, but I think we need strong leadership, regroup as a leadership to push the issues like this. The federal government stands to gain millions and millions from the Northwest Territories and there are opportunities to build the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I think that’s what the message is for Cabinet, as I read this motion. Some basic core services in our communities. I’ve named off a few that could be done, that needs to get done. Other communities that take programs and services for granted, we are desperately fighting in our communities to get. Something’s wrong so something’s got to move. I think it’s a good signal and change is good. I think that opportunities always present themselves. Mr. Speaker, in closing I want to say that I will be supporting the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Today it’s probably one of the toughest positions I’ve been put to task for in my elected career, as MLA for Nunakput and in my political career as a whole. For Nunakput I’ve been very fortunate to have my colleagues on both sides of the House support me on anything I’ve done. In regard to giving me the access road to Tuk and anything that I’ve asked for basically. My leaders back home, they phone me and tell me, support the government, support them to keep them in to try to work together as 19 as a whole. It’s a really tough call for me because you know some of the stuff I’ve seen, people don’t see what goes on here behind the closed doors of the Legislative Assembly. With all that’s been going on since the summer, I mean I sit as vice-chair of EDI, you know what happened with our worker there. That’s bad. That is bad for all of us in regards to having an affair. I mean, as a family man, it was a real sickening feeling I had in regard to the family. To me, in my growing up, it was family first. That, like I said, brings me to a real sick feeling. I can’t judge my Premier in regard to that; he’ll be judged by the good Lord.

I came to Yellowknife and to the Legislative Assembly as MLA for Nunakput to make a

difference for my people. I think I’ve been working together with my colleagues as a whole to do that. The bottomline is we have to quit pointing fingers either through our side, not so much our side, it’s a two-way street, and we use the media to get our points across. Some days you think you’re in All My Children or in some soap opera. Like I said, it’s a really awkward position I’m put in. I really think notice has been given in regard to this being brought up to my colleagues across the floor. You guys better start doing your job, start serving your people. You’re not. Half of you are doing an awesome job. The thing is we’ve got to start working together to get it done.

Health benefits, Sandy, throw it out. It ain’t going to happen. You know? The other things, the little things, you forget about the people in the communities. The high cost of living. I could go on and on. People are starving up north. No fuel. Are you going to buy fuel for your kids or are you going to buy food? What are we going to do? It’s up to you seven Members across the floor to serve the people of the Northwest Territories and not serve yourself.

The whole thing that this came about, it wasn’t shot from the hip. Things kept building up in regard to where it’s at today. For me, I’m put in a tough situation in regard to my leadership back home and my supporters. They tell me, support the government. We are in tough economic times right through and they’re saying if we did this it’s going to crumble. I don’t think it will if it went either way. I think there are Members here who could do a job on either side of the House who are more than capable. I’m just put in that situation in regard to...

I listened to a lot of people. I even had phone calls from people who I never heard from in 10 years and they’re phoning me at my apartment. Two o’clock this morning I got a phone call. For the past two days I’m not sleeping. I’m worried about this day. Now it’s here. Today I’m really reluctant to go with or go against, but for me Blackberry wireless has been giving me e-mails steady from my constituents telling me to support them.

I’m giving you guys one more chance in regard to what’s going on. To my colleagues on this side of the House, I apologize. One more chance. Next time it comes up and one of you are not doing your job, I’m going to make sure I follow through. Also, I really get tired of reading the newspaper everyday in regard to my colleagues Ramsay and Groenewegen. People taking shots at them. All they want is the best for the people of the Northwest Territories and sometimes it gets taken out of context. Bottomline: let’s start working together, let’s grow up. We’ve got to serve our people. People are starving. I’m putting you on notice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, this is not an easy time. I’ve been on both sides of the floor during times like this and it’s not easy. A couple Members, I respect the brutal honesty and their stand on the position. We are all here to...There’s reason for each person to do what they do and they feel whatever they have to, to do best.

I was walking here this morning and I was wondering where I was going to start. I was going to start from the time I got in here, my expectations of being an MLA to what I saw after I came in here which didn’t impress me at all and Jackie’s made reference. The politics within the politics is what got to me and I could not believe that. I didn’t want to believe that, but unfortunately it’s true. I’ve seen it during the 15th ; I’ve seen it during the 16th .

We profess ourselves to be leaders across these Territories. There are times when we act like leaders when it’s for our convenience, and there are times when we don’t act like leaders and people expect more of us. I hear people talk about my Northwest Territories and my Northwest Territories goes from Sachs Harbour to Fort Smith, from Fort Resolution to Aklavik. It includes all the Northwest Territories. I hear from people. We can’t fool people out there. We can’t. I really wonder sometimes where we are going. Where are we going? Are we doing what’s best for this institution or are we doing what’s best for the Northwest Territories as a whole? I really thought about this morning as I was walking here and I was also thinking I picked the wrong time to try and quit smoking, because I could sure use one right about now.

---Laughter

I agree with some of the comments over there. I hear some of the comments over there and I appreciate the brutal honesty of some Members. Like I said, everybody has a reason for doing what they do. It’s not an easy position to be in, whether you’re on that side, where I’ve been twice already. I’ve been here for four and a half years, I think this is the third, maybe the fourth time I’m going through this and people across the Northwest Territories are saying well, that’s fine, hold people accountable. You’re putting too much energy into it and that energy could be best used somewhere else. The communication issue, it happens on both sides. It happens on both sides. I sat with the Regular Members for the first 12 months of the 16th and here for the last going on four, I think four months to the day, and I see that it works both ways. That’s something that has to be cleaned up. Throughout this whole exercise, and I’m really glad

we’ve had this debate in public on the floor of the Chamber because the people out there can see. Throughout this whole exercise, I think it’s become evidently clear that we have to fix the line of communications and, in my opinion, so many times the ability to move forward is hindered by dragging stuff from back here. We can’t move forward if we are constantly dragging weights. That’s the God awful truth.

We all talked about moving forward for what’s best in the Northwest Territories. If I have done anything wrong, I would face the Members and I would stand here on my merit and be judged as to whether I had done my duty or not. I would accept the consequences. Look me in the eye and say I have no confidence in you, don’t pull the trigger. I can respect that and I can live with that. But to be put at the side of the ditch and machine gunned into the ditch is not something I truly respect.

I have heard talk of a ship out in sea. You know, you get an imbalance of people paddling on one side, ore on one side. We are going to veer off and I think it’s happened too many times in this case. Perception, we can stand up here and I can be up here saying all about the Northwest Territories, people don’t always hear what you say. They see what you do. Perception is nine-tenths of the law and what you say or what you do actually speaks a lot louder than what you actually say.

Mr. Ramsay mentioned fighting with Cabinet and that’s a true statement. I mean we all have our differences in here and we aren’t always going to see eye to eye. We sit…Cabinet, Cabinet doesn’t always see eye to eye. We don’t always see eye to eye with each other. But at the end of the day we have to put all that aside and we have to not just talk about doing what’s best with the people of the Northwest Territories, we actually have to do it.

Mr. Abernethy pointed out this is a great place. This is a great place to live. It truly is from the time you’re born until you’re planted, we live a very good existence here. Our schooling is taken care of. You see our kids in school, they don’t have to find part-time jobs because their SFA will look after them. We have a good system here. It’s not perfect. I’ll be the first one to say that. There are glitches as the Members like to point out, but for every glitch there are probably 10 or 12 good things that are happening and people across the Northwest Territories are being looked after, sometimes not as well as they would like, but they are looked after and I believe looked after very well. In my opinion this Territory in this country is the best place to be living.

You are concerned with leadership issues.

Leadership, in my opinion, is 19 Members of this Assembly. We have to set aside any issues, any

differences, we have to set all those aside and we have to start moving forward, we have to work together and I’ve always been confident in people’s ability. I’ve always been confident that at the end of the day a good common sense decision may be made based on what we keep talking about is best for the people of the Northwest Territories and to blow up the government right now, is it the best use of our time? Do we not have work we have to do? If a message was being sent, the message is heard, I guarantee. I listened to each one of you as you spoke over there. I have heard what you were saying and I am sure we’ve all heard what you were saying. That’s a good start and something we have to work on and that’s something that we have to nurture and just to make sure that is something we continue to do all the time. It goes both ways. Like I said, I sat there for twelve months, four months on this side, it works both ways, it works both ways. I think that’s something we are going to have to sit down, I think as Jackie said, we have to sit down and get things ironed out. Why can’t we, as Rodney King said, why can’t we all just get along? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this certainly isn’t an easy process that we’re going through. Certainly there are two parts to my statement and I will certainly be speaking my language and also at the same time, I will be speaking English right after.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say a few words that I have spoken in my language. Of course, my statement will be short and right to the point. Mr. Speaker, I will be selective and choose my words wisely as this is an important era in the territorial government, in this 16th Assembly. Ever since I got

elected in this 16th Assembly, this whole Assembly

has been going around in circles. It’s like a circus.

My Speaker, I am speaking from my heart. We’re not getting anywhere. We’re trying to get ahead, but we’re here today again to talk about certain issues that we must overcome. Government is a serious business. We simply cannot be changing leadership every time we may be pissed off about one or two Ministers or whatever the case is. Mr. Speaker, this particular incident or issue, the whole ordeal, has a huge impact on the Northwest Territories, our communities and our people that we serve. Is this really what the people of the North want? We don’t know. We should find out if that’s the case.

Regardless of the vote today that we are faced with, we are in a time of fiscal restraint and economic uncertainty. This government has the responsibility to be fiscally responsible and look to a new innovative way of ensuring essential services remain available in the Northwest Territories for the residents. Changing the Executive Council does not change that fact. It only prevents the government from doing the work it needs to do in a timely fashion.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to reflect for the record, those people who are listening on the radio, those people who are watching us, I think it’s key that we are talking about this particular motion. This motion we are debating here is a non-confidence vote on the Premier and the whole Executive Council, meaning that everyone here, Members, Regular Members, are telling us they lost confidence in us, they lost confidence in me as an Executive Council Member. You need to tell me sitting here as a Council Member, Executive Council, what we’ve done wrong, what we’ve done so wrong that you do not want our leadership. You need to face me also, eye to eye, and tell me to my face what I’ve done wrong. Have I broken the law? Have I broken a rule, policy, regulation within our government?

In my role as Minister, I have always been transparent and accountable to each and every single one of you as Regular Members and also my colleagues, also my constituents of Monfwi riding and I will continue to do so, Mr. Speaker.

So far to date, Mr. Speaker, there has been only one Member that came to my office and explained why this motion was brought forward. Mr. Speaker, this is truly a serious allegation to the North and our communities and people are watching carefully on how each and every one of us will be voting on this particular motion. This motion of non-confidence in our government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, a motion of non-confidence and me as a Member of the 16th Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of work ahead of us, a lot of new ideas, a lot of new initiatives that we need to start implementing. We just heard about the budget. That is going to benefit the whole Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, this particular motion to me is a selfish one. You need to think about the North, the people that we serve, the Northwest Territories. If this issue here is a perception of a lack of communication between the Executive and Members that we’ve heard over and over, we simply need to improve our communication dialogue, not dissolve the Executive Council as a whole. Every organization, government, has the

ongoing challenges that we are faced with today. It’s not only us, but nationally, internationally.

Mr. Speaker, in this Assembly, we talk about working together, cooperating as a consensus government, which I simply do not see here today but we can certainly fix that. The onus is on every one of us sitting here; 18, 19 of us. It goes both ways, as Mr. Ramsay indicated. We should be sitting down discussing issues, discussing challenges, and finding opportunities, finding solutions to resolve all those issues we are faced with. We can certainly do that together, all of us together. Let’s not wait for others to come to our rescue. We simply cannot afford to continue operating in this fashion constantly changing leadership status.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, anything is possible if we all work together, put our personal differences aside. We are here to serve the people of the Northwest Territories. They depend on us to make the most important decisions for them. All of us as elected Legislative Assembly Members need to strengthen our working relationships and everyone needs to do their part. Mr. Speaker, can we make this government work? Mr. Speaker, yes, we can. Mahsi.