Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have very few words to say about this motion. I represent the people of Tu Nedhe and the people of Tu Nedhe do have mixed feelings on what has

occurred and what this Legislative Assembly should have done. I have given the people of Tu Nedhe opportunity to speak to me on the matter, and over the last year I have taken 12 trips into two of the communities that I do represent.

The majority of the people in Tu Nedhe didn’t care to discuss this or had not given me the opportunity or taken the opportunity to discuss the conflict of interest inquiry with me. A few people, actually, that did discuss the report with me were mixed on it. Some people thought that the Premier should resign his position as Premier as a result of what had occurred, and some people said that there was absolutely no negative impacts upon them and thought that whatever report that came out of this should be accepted and that if that report made some recommendations, then those recommendations would be what the Legislative Assembly should follow.

I made a decision early in this that once the inquiry started, that I would accept the report and if the report had found that the Premier was in conflict, then it would be up to us as legislators on what the punishment would be.

So with those few words, I say that I support the motion and I accept the report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a regrettable day in our Assembly that we need to be talking about a matter such as this.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier’s conduct I believe has put all Members of this Assembly in a very untenable situation. We’ve had to ask ourselves do something or do nothing, and that’s a question that I have had to ask myself many times during this process. Is this something that I can say and do nothing about?

I guess I have been in this Legislative Assembly for 14 years. I have devoted quite a large chunk of my working and adult life to this institution and it does bereave greatly when we have to deal with situations such as that before us today. I respect this institution and I think we all have an obligation, every one of us elected to this office, to try and up hold a standard that the people can feel is acceptable and we feel is acceptable amongst ourselves.

Mr. Speaker, I have to ask these questions and I don’t want to rehash what happened in the inquiry, but from me signing the letter came down to a question like this: Should the standing committees in our Legislature and the work they conduct have a reasonable expectation that they can work and speak freely without the partner of the person who is the head of our government being in the room? Should Members in the performance of their duties

in this House also reasonably expect that when they rise on a point of privilege or a point of order in this House, that the table officers who serve us should be free of any bias or perceived bias in assisting the Speaker in crafting responses to those points that are raised and very serious to Members in the performance of their duties?

Mr. Speaker, I am conflicted today because although I will accept the findings of the report, there are parts of it that I have a really difficult time with. Mr. Speaker, other Members have spoken to the integrity and the vast experience of Mr. Justice Hughes and Mr. Gerald Gerrand, and indeed they are highly respected, but I think that the findings of the report that the adjudicator did not have the opportunity to rule outside of the options and arguments that were available to him. In other words, he had to take the evidence before him and rule on that. He did not have the opportunity to bring his own opinion or anything. He could not pull something out of the air that was not presented.

As other Members have already alluded to, Mr. Speaker, the legislation has changed. It used to be that when a complaint was filed, that the Conflict Commissioner would then rule on that prima facie complaint to determine if further investigation was required and there was, that same Conflict Commissioner would then become the judge and the adjudicator of that complaint.

We, for various reasons that we won’t revisit, decided that that process was not the best and that it was possible to refer this to a sole adjudicator. Mr. Speaker, in the changing of that legislation, it was determined that it not be in the government’s rules or policy that the folks that were making the complaint or the person laying the complaint would be funded for any counsel. As we all know, counsel is very expensive and it would be difficult for Members to finance out of their own resources.

Mr. Speaker, none of the Members on this side of the House are lawyers, so we tried to the best of our ability, and I do thank those who were here for every day of the inquiry and worked really hard on this to participate in a process that was, in fact, not an inquisitorial process but an adversarial process. In fact, did not have the kind of guidance that would have perhaps made the kind that perhaps would have made the finding of this inquiry, may have had a different outcome, but we can only speculate.

Mr. Speaker, when all of the facts of this inquiry are boiled down, what do we have left? Mr. Speaker, we are the police of our own conduct in this Legislative Assembly. Was Mr. Roland fair to the Members in his dealings with us in this manner? Was his a standard of conduct that we can be confident in and proud of?

Mr. Speaker, I must say that in the finding of an error in judgment as a layperson and not a lawyer, an error in judgment speaks to me of something

inadvertent and perhaps kind of something spontaneous and on the spur of the moment and not something that would go on for an extended period of time like weeks or months.

The other part of that error in judgment made in good faith, I actually took it upon myself to look up what “good faith” meant and I actually looked it up in the dictionary and it means with honest intentions, an error in judgment, an inadvertent decision made with honest intentions.

It was indicated that because of the Premier’s busy schedule that he didn’t have time to consider the Members of this House and he wanted to make sure that the relationship was permanent. As the report indicates, he had opportunity at several junctures to share this relationship even in a discreet manner with those who were in positions of authority, such as the Speaker or the Clerk. Mr. Speaker, we did not expect that the Premier needed to take out an advertisement on the front page of the newspaper to say that this relationship had developed, but there were ways of discreetly and sensitively dealing with this, but the Premier did not take advantage of that.

Mr. Speaker, some of the other Members have made comments that I would like to respond to, but I am just going to stick to the report. I have to say, though, that this is not a spy drama. You know, as a matter of fact, there was no spying. We didn’t even know the Premier was in a relationship with the Clerk until it was disclosed to us and we found out. It never crossed our minds. We never thought of it.

So, Mr. Speaker, I guess it’s important that all Members who are elected to this level of public office consider what would be a normal and acceptable standard of conduct.

Mr. Speaker, I will say today that I sincerely regret the day that I supported Premier Floyd Roland in his bid for Premier and my heart has gone out of this job to some extent. It may never come back. Because I was proud to be a Member of this…I find it hard to come in here. Sorry.

I have been spending some time in my office this week because I like to be passionate about my job, I like to be enthusiastic about it. I cannot come in here anymore with that same enthusiasm because of what we have allowed to happen. I’m sorry. I only have two years to go and I will not run again. I am sad to say that my heart is not here anymore because of this.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, as well, would like to say a few brief words about the motion which I will, as well, be supporting. We are here in this Legislature today for political closure, as it were. Because the complaint

was dismissed, there is no legal obligation for us to have any say any further. The case was decided when Mr. Hughes dismissed the complaint, but it was thought that it would help us move forward for the remaining 689 days that we have left before us.

My political perspective on this whole thing starts right back when this Assembly was elected. We came here and we picked Cabinet and we started business. It’s been a long, twisting and often bumpy road to get us 25 months into our term. And this is, in my mind, the last, hopefully, chapter of that bumpy road that we have now this report before this House that has been dismissed. We can talk of the content, rationale and justification all we want and Members have done that, as is their right, but the reality for us in the North is that we have very few months left. This is an important issue to put behind us. A decision has been made and now we have to look forward at the very, very many things we have to do.

I have been in this House, as well, over 14 years and there are definitely peaks and valleys in this business. It is very overwhelming at times. You wonder why you are here and what you’re doing. Our job today, I believe, is to politically bring closure to this. A decision had been done. Whether we say yes or no that we don’t agree, the reality is the decision is done because there was no finding. There was no other consequence or punishment being recommended by Mr. Hughes.

So I hope we can all, once we have our say here today, agree that we are going to look for the future and the things we have to do with rate reviews, energy, cost of living, housing, education, health, you name it. So I will be accepting this report and I will be looking to the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this whole situation has left a bad taste in all of our mouths and a bad taste across the Northwest Territories and it’s unfortunate. As much as we have our views on certain things and as much as we don’t like the situation, Mr. Hughes is a man of great integrity in my opinion. Therefore, the motion is very simple. It just says that the report of the sole adjudicator be accepted and that’s what I intend to do today, is vote for the report of the sole adjudicator to be accepted. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, Members of the Assembly, I have waited over a year to say my piece. Now, there are a couple of roads I can take here to set the record straight for some of the information shared, some of the discussion that has

taken place behind closed doors, some of the things that the people of the Northwest Territories do not see, how things are reported in the media. The grand kickoff of this by CBC is one thing. I could go down that path. Mr. Speaker, one of the things I have held onto is trying to maintain a level of approach that this institution does deserve.

Now, I know this whole scenario is about a decision that I made regarding my personal life and it did have an impact on this Legislative Assembly. As Members of the Legislative Assembly and one of the longest serving -- there are four of us here -- and the longest-serving Members have much experience through every Assembly with, unfortunately, something of this nature when it comes to the conflict process.

I have listened to Members. Some have come and talked to me. I have heard from many people of the Territories who’ve said many things to me regarding the whole scenario. I must say right now, I must send out thanks to all of those who phoned me, spoke to me in person and told me that we need to get on with business; that this level of debate shouldn’t have happened, shouldn’t occur in this Assembly.

The fact is we are here. The fact is I made a call on my life that affected my family that, because of my position, that decision affected to a much higher degree than it would have been if I had of remained as a mechanic in Inuvik twenty-some, 14-some years ago.

How many people of this Legislative Assembly, even the ones who have served as long as I have, know a great deal about me besides the political life we have together in?

So, yes, Mr. Speaker, we went through a process. I made a decision that impacted my life, it impacted this Assembly. I know it’s impacted Members, as well, to the point where I was called to speak to Members of this Assembly in a forum that is usually allowed for Members to air this type of discussion, to be weighed and measured to a certain degree. I believe I was weighed and measured. Members may not like the decision I made and the impacts it had and, believe me, Mr. Speaker, in hindsight, I would advise anybody else don’t go down the path I have gone down. At the same time, I would have to say a matter of the heart is one that takes over all other matters at times.

As Mr. Hughes has put in his report to this Assembly, I made an error of judgment made in good faith because I chose to notify a family that I had started and was in for 20 years over Members of this Legislative Assembly. That is not taken lightly. Let’s not forget that it was I who came forward to say this was happening. It was not discovered by anybody else. I came forward after I informed my wife and children.

We have gone down a path that will mark the record books forever, unfortunately. In a question during this process, a question was asked of one of the witnesses. What did they think that Mr. Roland gained from this? And there was a bit of a smirk and a chuckle; I don’t think he gained anything. In fact, by my choice, I caused pain to those I care most deeply about, because I made a choice. I caused pain to others that I started to look at a new life with. There is enough pain in that decision alone than to have it elevated to the national scene.

Mr. Speaker, as we went through this process, I was not sure of the outcome, but I went to the Members as I notified the appropriate people and this process started off and Members gave me the opportunity to speak to them in Caucus that I felt even though Members were not happy with my personal decision, they felt that they could get on with the work that we needed to do as a Legislative Assembly. Then it culminated into the motion of non-confidence, another time we are weighed and measured. And now we are to this stage.

I accept that everybody needs to say what they need to say, so that they can put out there why they felt this had to happen. Some would like to put words into my mouth about how I should take the next steps. I will never satisfy every Member in this Assembly. I don’t think any of us can say we can stand up here and say we will satisfy every Member of the Legislative Assembly. But I am sincerely sorry that a decision I made has left a mark on my family, on this institution and my relationship with the Members of this Legislative Assembly. I know the professional people that are in place that have upheld their end, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, a difficult task that is, the adjudicator, the job he did. We have come to this point and I have waited for months, still getting on with the work we needed to do to see where this would go.

We are now faced with this report and it says, yes, that I did breach section 75(a) but it was also dismissed. Would I make that same decision again? The decision would have come sooner. Would that stop some of this process? I can’t say that for sure.

We have had a very adversarial process in this Assembly, but I am hoping, by getting to this point, that we will be able to move on for the interest of the people of the Northwest Territories, that we will be able to put them first and not ourselves first, and to the people of the Northwest Territories, I apologize because I made a decision for myself first. But I also know that many people in the Northwest Territories would say sometimes you have to take care of yourself. I have been told by all others that I didn’t handle this in the best way, but this is no business for the Legislative Assembly.

I don’t know what tomorrow brings, Mr. Speaker. I just know that I have counted on the support of Members of this Assembly, the majority of Members, and we all have to do that as a Cabinet, for the initiatives, for what we do. I am not asking Members to agree with my choice I made in my life.

Again, I do apologize that my choices caused such harm to the people and to the relationship I have with Members, but I also know there are enough Members who believe in what we have the possibility in the Northwest Territories that we can work together and move forward, get over this.

There is so much more that we could be doing. One wrong followed by another wrong doesn’t make a right. There are many people who would say my choice in timing was not a good choice. I have still a longer journey to go through with my own family.

I accept the report. It stated the facts. In hindsight, as I told the adjudicator, I should have come sooner. But let’s not forget that I did come forward. Nobody told me I had to. I believed at that time that was the time; now, in hindsight, yes, sooner.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I hope that once we vote on this, we can go forward and focus on the business of the Legislative Assembly and the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get into my comments, I want to make a significant acknowledgement to the families that have gone through this process. They have suffered greatly, all of them. As much as the Members here have been involved, the family side of this has probably taken a significant beating that we will never understand and appreciate.

Mr. Speaker, many events have unfolded in such a way that I can’t imagine any of us would have foreseen the direction it would have taken and certainly brought us to. In all honesty, in the tone of this Assembly, you don’t hear enthusiasm. You hear people struggling with their words, even the six of them who wrote the initial letter to Mr. Gerrand. You can still hear the tone of struggle in the sense that this has changed the way we do business. It certainly hasn’t changed the way some people feel. I can appreciate and recognize that.

Mr. Speaker, I definitely define today is not a hallmark moment of this Assembly but the truth being is that I certainly hope this is one we can learn from and move forward on. Many people have said that they will accept the report. I certainly hope that that will be the beginning of a healing, a new day, a new way forward. From my point of view, this has been a struggle and a negative tone over the Assembly for a whole year. This tone has caused many difficulties. In leading up to the release of Mr.

Hughes’ report, I encouraged the Premier no matter what it said, I said accept the report. He said he was well positioned to accept the report no matter what way it went. Therefore, if I say stuff like that, we should be accepting the report, I see no reason why I couldn’t be committed to that. I will be voting in favour of the report.

Mr. Speaker, the public has been mixed on what has come forward. Not everyone is completely happy with what has happened here. The report is mixed in and of itself. But there are a lot of people that want to see this Assembly close this door, close this chapter and say please don’t open this door again and move forward. This issue undoubtedly has divided us. My only fear is it will continue to divide us. I just hope that those who accept the report are doing it for the right reasons. I hope those who are accepting the report are doing it because they want to. I hope those who are accepting the report do it because they think it is the right choice.

Mr. Speaker, I have said different times that these are dark days. I am very hopeful that this will be the day that we start to let the light back through the Assembly. I have come here and I have had many differences with various Members but deep down inside, I think all of us, even on the ugly days, are still great Members. I think all of us have something inspiring to provide for others, regardless of sometimes we trip over the way we do things. But I think we all provide significant value to the Assembly and to the people of the Northwest Territories.

The tone of this situation has changed the way we do business, but I think through a path of opportunity we can find ourselves again. I think through that path all we have to say to ourselves is we can believe again in each other. We can believe in what we are doing. We can believe in where we want to go, because I certainly do.

I came to this Assembly in 2003 and again in 2007 in the hope of opportunity, in the hope of great things our Assembly can do. I see the people of the North really are inspired by the stuff we can do, the stuff we can get behind, the stuff we can propel forward and say we want to move our Territory this much further forward this time. Sometimes that is not measured in miles, sometimes not even measured in metres. Sometimes it is so thin it is a slight sliver of paper that the change is so small but it can have such a profound effect. That is why people put us here. That is why I am here, because I am so excited about coming to work even on the dark days, Mr. Speaker, because I know those clouds will pass. I know opportunity will be coming before us where we can get behind the Territory from one side to the other, from large communities to small communities. I think we are all here for a

reason. I really believe in that. I look forward to what we can do.

Mr. Speaker, this cloud, I am convinced, can part today. As I said before, let’s not just close the door, let’s shut it down, lock it and pack it away, because I don’t want to see it again. This has been a lengthy process, as I have said before, but I think we can do this by setting it aside and say, no more.

Mr. Speaker, there has been a tone of reflection. I am happy to hear that. I believe the words Mr. Roland has said are true and from his heart. I think we all know what has happened here today. I think it is about time to look forward. I think that is the opportunity here, certainly not looking back, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, overwhelmingly, my constituents have told me that they would like to see us get back to work. They would like to see this not hold us down, because they know the good work we can do here. So, again, I say this chapter must be closed.

Mr. Speaker, I have gotten to know Mr. Roland very well over the years. At many times I admire the work he does and the work hopefully he can do in the future. By saying that, that does not mean I agree with the path he chose, but I still respect what he does for his work and I still do respect his commitment to his children, Mr. Speaker. That’s still very admirable.

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I think we can learn more about ourselves here now about how we’ve dealt with this, as well as how much more we can go through in the future. The only value in this, yes, Mr. Hughes did provide some direction and suggestions and he sets the final disposition of this report, but, Mr. Speaker, I think the end value of this is the fact that the lawyers are the winners, the historians are the winners and the darn media is the winner in this scenario. No one here is this building is the winner. No one’s going to go out of this room today and be championing, yay, yay, yay. The fact is, I hope when the vote comes, it’s clear, decisive and over, because I think before us we can, again, shoot for a new beginning.

So I passionately believe in our opportunity here. I passionately believe in who we all are, every one of us here. And I passionately believe that we can finish today’s vote and move forward and speak to the tone of why we are here and start this with not just the new beginning of less than two years, but a new beginning of opportunity for us all. Mr. Speaker, may we all get back to work with the right perspective and the right tone.

I thank the constituents of Yellowknife Centre for providing me insight on the direction and their sentiments of how they feel about this issue. It doesn’t represent all of them and complete but, as I said earlier, the overwhelming number of them have said they would like to see this closed and we

move forward and on to the business of the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being a Member of this House going on four terms and 14 years in to this office, this has always been the hardest part of the job, from the 13th Assembly to

where we are today.

I think one thing that we realize every time we go through this process, we all get tarred with the same brush regardless of who it was or who it is or what the outcomes are. It does affect the image of this office and I think it’s important to realize we all have a major role to play in consensus government regardless if it’s Members of the Executive, Members of this side of the House and Members of the executive...(inaudible)...and, more importantly, the honour and aspirations that we are here to serve. It’s the people of the Northwest Territories. When we cannot even trust ourselves or be honest enough to each other to admit that something was going on, for me, that is the problem I have. I had to get an e-mail from a particular spouse to realize this was happening. I didn’t clue in that this was even on the radar.

I think, for myself, to have been involved in the committee struck and going out to different hearings, being involved in the day-to-day deliberations of this House, committee structures and the role that we all play, realizing that we all have certain roles to play in the movement of legislation through this House, regardless of how we debate it, what we say in camera or basically how the outcome turns out, that it’s important that the dignity of this institution is upheld. I think that’s the issue for me.

Mr. Speaker, contravention of section 75(1)(a) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act has definitely been breached. I think, if anything, the outcome and the findings of this report and the amount of time and money that was put into this thing, I think, at the end of it all, yes, there is a motion before us here today. But the question is, have we learned anything from this experience. Is anything going to change in regard to how we do business? Is anything going to happen to improve the way we deal with each other as Members? I think that is the threshold of this problem; that there are fine lines drawn in the sand and certain people are on one side of the line and certain people on the other. Until we remove that fine line, we will never get over this hurdle of the dignity and aspirations of who we’re here to serve and be honest and trustworthy to each other. If we know there’s something going on or something’s happening, at least have the ability to talk to each other. For me, that is the missing link on this

process. We didn’t have to go there. I think if we were honest with each other and this issue came forward when it should have and not waited six or eight months down the road, we wouldn’t have had to go through this process.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s crucially important to realize that the judgment here is fair regardless of the individuals that brought this issue forward by way of the complaint, but they also are resonating to how this happened. They made the decision to get to the bottom of this. To make an issue, but again, was it a fair and transparent process? For me, it wasn’t. But again, that’s the decision that’s going to have to be decided by the Board of Management and look at the rules and procedures of this House and how we go forward.

I think, Mr. Speaker, it’s so vital that we honestly -- honestly -- leave this room tonight with a breakthrough in relationships between that side of the House and Members on this side of the House regardless of who signed the letter or who didn’t. We have to get past that. If that’s what’s going to happen here tonight, well, hopefully it does. But if it doesn’t, for myself, I’ve seen too many bridges burned over the years because of personalities. I’ve seen too many good people get worked over or worked out of their potential because of frustration. I think it’s so critical that we, as legislators here tonight, make the decision of moving forward honestly. That’s all we ask: be honest about where we are going from here forward. I think it’s so essential that we, as Legislators and Members of the 16th Assembly...We swore an oath when we

came to this office to uphold the aspirations and dignity of this House and, more importantly, to serve those people of the Northwest Territories regardless of stature. I think we’ve got to do that.

Mr. Speaker, in regards to the inquiry and the commission, I, for one, feel that they did the job with the tools they had. They made the decisions in regard to the judgment of what they had presented in front of them. Yes, I think it could have been opened up a little more and allowed for more inclusion of certain people who, basically, were not able to defend themselves, but I think, more importantly, to allow for a process that’s open, transparent and also the whole conclusion is to bring closure to whatever process we go through.

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the decision that we all stood here today and I, again, would like to say we’re all losers here, there’s no winners, there’s losers, and we are all losers. I think we’ve got to realize that and I think it’s important to realize, Mr. Speaker, that we seriously, seriously take this motion for some meaning and make changes going forward for the benefit of all the people in the Northwest Territories and get over these petty battles that we’ve been fighting going on two years,

ever since we got into office, from the election of the Executive Council, to where we are today.

Like I say, in 14 years, this is not the first Legislature that’s gone through this. If anything, every Legislature I’ve been in has gone through this, but the thing is that that’s all people remember of those Legislatures that what we’ve gone through are the bad things that happen and, basically, never talk about the good things that we can accomplish without having to go through these types of events.

So, Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I’d like to move a motion to amend.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that motion 4-16(4) be amended by adding in the following after the seventh paragraph of the motion:

“AND WHEREAS the sole adjudicator found in the report that the concerns of the complainants that prompted their complaint which resulted in this inquiry was a fair and reasonable one to be taken to the Commissioner seeking confirmation of what they believed to be wrong;

AND WHEREAS the sole adjudicator also found that Premier Roland performed his duties of office and arranged his private affairs in such a manner that he failed to maintain public confidence in his integrity, objectivity and impartiality as a result of entering into an intimate relationship with the Principal Clerk of Committees without the timely disclosure of that relationship.”

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the amendment.

Question has been called. The motion is defeated.

---Defeated

To the original motion. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just add a few words to the debate today.

Mr. Speaker, I, like many others here, did not know what would be included in this report. I spent some time on the weekend reading this report and I must say I had to read it a few times. I know Commissioner Hughes. He was our Conflict of Interest Commissioner. He used to walk up and

down the hall. I loved finding moments here and there to talk to him. He’s a wise, well-learned, highly respected and a reputable man in the legal world, but also for a lot of work that he has done. I think we are lucky to have a man of his calibre who chose to take this project.

Mr. Speaker, in reading this -- and I think this is my own interpretation -- I think we often get asked the question, if you could spend time with one person, maybe have dinner, have coffee, who would you chose? I would love to spend some time with Commissioner Hughes to see what his thinking was -- because what I have to say is just my own opinion about what I’m reading -- I think what he’s trying to do in this report is give us a chance to have a big group hug. I don’t mean to make light of this, but this is what I’m seeing. He took pains to show that he listened to all of the six Members who filed the complaint. He made it clear that the Members had the right to file those complaints, and for those who are concerned that those Members were not represented by counsel, I don’t think there should be any worries about that.

He quoted all the Members. He found a lot. He got a lot out of the testimonies of the Members unrepresented. Any lawyer who practices in the legal world, we are always scared of appearing before non-represented lawyers because a good judiciary listens even more carefully to those who are not represented. So I’m glad, Mr. Speaker, that the report found that the Members had the right to bring those issues forward. As has already been stated, the Commissioner looked at all of the facts and really, basically, came down to say, okay, you’re right to raise this complaint, yes, there was a breach, but this really comes down to a man’s judgment.

On page 37 it says, and I quote, on the bottom of the paragraph, “The emotional strain that he had been through” -- referring to Mr. Roland -- “was evident when he gave his evidence.” He says, the Commissioner says, “There is neither a book nor a set of guidelines to follow in order to determine when to make the disclosure of such a relationship. As he said, he and Ms. Bisaro concluded in their discussion ‘there is no real right time to do this.’ In my assessment finding the answer to that dilemma all comes down to the application of one’s own judgment.” Commissioner Hughes is saying that it’s on man’s judgment, there’s not a book, there’s no rule or regulation that says when is the timing good. Yes, he made an error in judgment, but it was made in good faith. He’s telling us you had the right to raise the issue, but it was done in good faith and on the last paragraph he’s sending a message to us, on page 38, “I would hope”, and this is the message that I’m working with and I think this is the message the Commissioner is sending me, this is just my own interpretation, maybe if I have dinner with him 10 years from now he will say I got it wrong. I read

this a lot and I think he is sending us all, the whole House a message. I think that’s a message that a lot of us want to live with today and he says on page 38, I quote, “I would hope that the tone of that debate will reflect the civility which prevailed at this hearing, and that when the Assembly opens in the New Year it will be for an amicable and productive session.”

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that we had one of the most renowned and reputed legal minds that looked at our question, he took our questions very seriously, he looked at all the evidence and he said at the end of the day it comes to one’s judgment. He could have done better, maybe worse, but it was made in good faith and get on with your work. That’s how I read this report, I believe that’s what the people say. I believe Mr. Roland said right at the beginning of the year, when he said he has to answer to his family and his God and that he will do that for the rest of his working life and personal life.

Mr. Speaker, as many Members have said, we have so much work to do for the remainder of the two years, I do hope that this is a closure. I don’t like the word closure, I think it’s an evolving process, but I think that this is a good point to move forward and to try to get the work done for the rest of the term for the people of the Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. I’ll allow the mover of the motion closing remarks. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank all of my colleagues who chose to speak to the motion today. As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, I will accept the result of this inquiry and I respect it as well. This motion is the end of this matter for me and I think and I hope that I speak for all the complainants when I say that.

I want to quote, if I can, Mr. Speaker, one final section of Mr. Hughes’ report, which stood out immediately for me when I read it, and I quote Mr. Hughes from page 35 of that report: “The fact is he” -- the Premier -- “did not make the disclosure until he was satisfied that his relationship with Ms. Russell had cemented into a permanent one. What of course was wrong with that was that his primary responsibility to his colleagues in the House, the democratic institution they serve and the maintenance of public confidence and trust of those he was elected to lead took second place during that period of time.”

It is true, Mr. Speaker, that this process has taken some of our time, it’s taken some of our resources, but I want the public to know and I take issue with what some Members had to say that work hasn’t been done by Members of this Legislative Assembly over the past year. Work has certainly been done, Mr. Speaker, and a tremendous amount of work has been done both by my Cabinet

colleagues across the floor and Regular Members of this side of the House who go to committee meetings and do the work on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories. Good work has been getting done. Unfortunately, this issue has clouded things somewhat. It’s been a black cloud that’s been hanging over the building and I’m certainly glad that the report is here, that we can put this to rest and, as many Members have said, move on.

Mr. Speaker, I accept the fact that the Premier’s breach of the act and his error in judgment were conducted in good faith. There are no winners that emerge from this process, and other Members have talked about that, only damage to the integrity of our institution and public confidence in the leadership of this Territory. We all need to make sure that we all take the steps that are necessary to restore that integrity and that confidence that the public has in this institution and this government.

As this matter draws to conclusion, only the Premier can determine the way forward and I’d like to thank the Premier for offering up an apology earlier in these proceedings and I accept the Premier’s what I believe was a heartfelt apology to the people of the Northwest Territories and to the Regular Members on this side of the House and to his Cabinet colleagues as well, Mr. Speaker. I thank him for that. Only he can determine what needs to be done to ensure that the people we represent in the institution we serve no longer take second place to anything.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make it abundantly clear that we have to work together, and, as was mentioned by other Members, the actions of any Member have an impact on all the other Members of this House as -- I believe it was Mr. Krutko alluded to it -- we all get painted with the same brush. So I just want Members to realize that when something’s happened and you make decisions or you take an action, it could potentially have a negative impact not only on your colleagues, but on the institution in general.

So I wanted to make sure I mention that, as well, and, again, there has been much good work done by this government, by the Regular Members here over the past year while this has been out there, and I wanted to again publicly thank Mr. Hughes, the Premier, his counsel, the complainants who signed the initial letter and, like I said earlier, my constituents and the residents in the Northwest Territories who have lent their support to me throughout this process and to my family. This is a trying thing on everybody, Mr. Speaker. I spent all weekend thinking about today and it certainly is draining. I’ve obviously got many other things I can be doing at home other than thinking about this motion coming up today and trying to put some closure on this and move this forward.

So, again, I just wanted to thank everybody that’s involved. I know it’s been trying on everybody and I do believe we have lots of opportunity here to work together and to move this operation forward in a positive direction. Again, I wanted to say thank you as well, Mr. Speaker, for your work as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. We’re ready for the vote. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m sorry, I failed to request a recorded vote. I’d like to request a recorded vote on the motion. Thank you.