Mr. Speaker, I am sure all the people in the gallery and all the Members in this House and all people listening on the radio and watching on television can feel the tension in the air. It’s so thick you could cut it with a knife right now and it has been for some time. Mr. Speaker, it really is a tough situation we are in. It’s tough for all of us. We heard from many Members here speak with great emotion and voice some real concern.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, I have to mention it’s really a strange situation we are in also, because usually a government’s confidence is voted on after they present the budget, not before.

Over the last few days, I have been really trying to take stock of where we are at and how we ended up here. I certainly, if there is an issue with Cabinet, I take my share of the blame if there is concern about our conduct. I really would have liked the opportunity to see how we can resolve it.

Mr. Speaker, I considered resigning if Members are considering that I am not doing my job. I will continue to offer that. I think that should come in the form of a review. I was somewhat surprised to see this motion come forward and I tried to talk to a number of Members over this issue. Why don’t we have a mid-term review? That’s not something

that’s being contemplated at this point. They thought it was too late. Some Members said it was complete lack of confidence in our government. Some Members even went as far as to say I didn’t get what I wanted from this government for my riding, so you guys got to go.

Mr. Speaker, I have also heard from the general public. The issue I have been hearing is there‘s a clash of personalities amongst us as 19 Members. There are a number of people who will probably never get along in this forum and that’s something that is very serious.

Mr. Speaker, I say that because I am a strong believer -- and I make no bones about it -- in the consensus government style. Consensus government is something that I have worked with all my life. It is the only style of government that I know and participated in. I have worked with band councils. I have worked with Metis councils. I have worked with regional governments, aboriginal governments and when it works, it works well, but if people don’t respect it, it won’t work. That is the basis of consensus government. It takes trust, it takes respect and it takes an awful lot of communication.

Mr. Speaker, I have also watched the party system. I have studied the party politics style. I’ve never liked what I’ve seen. I’ve seen a lot of people, there’s a lot of yelling, a lot of arguing, and very little communication or sharing of information.

What concerns me is since we got together as Members of the 16th Assembly, we all had high

hopes. We had lots of smiling faces in those days. We really tried to work together. That was a really strong theme amongst all of us, was to work together. As soon as Cabinet was selected we started to see lines being drawn. I think before Cabinet even moved one decision we were being accused of doing certain things. That has made it very tough to go about our business. We’re starting to see that escalate now. We’re starting to see our consensus style of government being brought to a virtual standstill. There is starting to be a lot of what I guess could be called threats, a lot of strong words amongst ourselves, and absolutely no chance of us getting together for a group hug or anything of that nature.

---Laughter

I’m trying to make light of it, but the reality is it’s going to be a real challenge for us to continue to work together. It’s at a time when our economy is really in a downturn situation. It’s a very difficult time for a lot of our communities. I think a lot of Members have mentioned that. It’s a lot of tough slugging for our residents and businesses. We

should be looking for solutions and to make tough decisions.

As I looked at what could be the possible outcome of this whole exercise I’m really struggling to find any win in any form, no matter what the outcome. If we remove all Members on this side of the House and put them on the other side of the House and change seats per se, we still are not going to be functional. We’ll have the same debates. We’ll have the same stalemates. We’ll have to wait for the new budget to be drafted. I don’t believe if the Cabinet goes down, the budget is going to stay. We’d need an interim budget. If the government is recognized for its budget -- and that’s their signature series of what we’re doing, the decisions accumulated -- then that’s going to be really tough. It will take a transition period.

Even if we change some Members of Cabinet, depending on who gets into Cabinet we still may have the conflict that we have amongst some Members. Whether it’s on the Cabinet side or some Members go on the Regular Members’ side, the dispute is still going to be there. I think our only chance of surviving this government is to keep the current government in place, continue to try to work together to try to look at what are the serious allegations and challenges and issues that have been raised by the Members and try to work them out. Almost every Member has raised an issue over process, about how we’re not doing well enough in communicating, how we’re not doing well enough for giving advance notice, how we’re not doing well enough to responding on different issues. I think those are issues that can be overcome. But we need the opportunity.

The only other solution would be for all of us to resign, all 19 Members, and start again. Because there’d be no easy way to get through this and we’ll just be at a stalemate after stalemate for the rest of our term.

I think we are to take the time to review what our challenges are and deal with them. We should take the time to work on a better communication system. We should also improve our decision making process. We should all commit to work together, put aside our differences, to help the people in our communities, help our workers, our businesses, then not be spending time on issues that many people are viewing as a clash of personalities.

We need for the NWT to see us emerge from this as stronger; stronger from going through this financial crisis, going through this political crisis. We have to focus on our future, not our differences. I would personally believe that it’s a waste of time for us to go through the TLC process again. New Ministers would have to take the time

to become familiar with the departments, their new portfolios, and set a new agenda. We’d probably see a lot of commitments we made to the communities, those things may have to be postponed. Programs and services that we’re working on may be delayed. And for sure the credibility with the public or other jurisdictions would certainly be compromised, if it’s not already.

I think all of us have heard from the leaders in our communities, from our constituents, from the NWT Association of Communities, from the Chamber of Commerce, from aboriginal governments, from aboriginal leaders, and they’re all basically saying the same thing. The message is pretty clear: Set aside your personal conflicts, work on issues, get on with the work that’s needed for the people of the Northwest Territories. Give the people of the Northwest Territories the comfort of having a stable working government that’s going to be there during the difficult times. I’m serious. If we can’t do that, then we may need to look at the only alternative we have, which is to go back to the polls and let the people decide.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

I’d like to thank the Members for the comments to this motion. I see there are lots of people in the gallery and I’m sure there are people around the Territory and perhaps some parts of Canada who are watching, to see how we’re going to emerge from this motion.

I’ve been here for 10 years. I was elected in 1999 and this is my third Assembly. In that time I have seen a lot of things. So what is happening today is new in some ways and not in others. I see that there are lots of people who watch us who are more familiar with how the consensus system works and how conflicts arise and how some of them are resolved.

But I have to say that in the five situations where Ministers were removed, two of them had to do with conflict resolution and three of them had to do with some matters involving court. What is new here is that we’ve never had a motion to remove the entire Cabinet. Obviously this is a very serious motion and I have listened very carefully to what the Members are saying, because obviously there’s a reason for bringing that forward.

What I’m hearing is lack of communication or breakdown in communication and process, and some of the Members have said it’s an unhappy situation to have to tell their constituents negative news. But that is new to me. If we are judged by negative news that we need to give, I would suggest to anybody else who wants to run for Minister of Health and Social Services that they

may not want to consider that portfolio. It is a really high burden to put on any political leader that you cannot give me that news and that that will be the standard to which you will judge.

I just want to say, obviously I understand that this is a very difficult situation for everybody and everybody has given a really well thought out opinion about why they stand on this motion on one side or the other. But I was thinking this morning and over the last few days about how we got to where we are and how we get out of it. This morning, when I was listening to Mr. Miltenberger’s interview and the reaction from the budget, in most jurisdictions the confidence motion is on the budget. That is the most important thing. When you look at us, the general response we’re getting from the motion out of the budget is that Regular Members here who support the motion support the budget.

For any government a budget is the most authoritative and legitimate document on the confidence of the government. So when I look at the budget and see if we have worked together for the last two months, because we have, because under consensus government Members have a preview to the budget document first. If we were able to work out an agreement on a $1.3 billion expenditure and set out priorities and where the capital money will be spent or program money, surely we have more in common and we have some kind of system that works here and allows us to do that. I understand that there are differences, but surely we have to look for what is common ground that we can build on.

I think we’ve all been influenced by President Obama, who’s been elected in the United States, and his favourite saying -- and he is, I think, spreading the word around the world -- that you can spend all your time thinking about what divides anybody. We can spend all our time thinking about what divides us, what makes us upset, what’s not working for me. But we can also spend that time thinking about what works for us, what unites us, what is a common ground.

Another favourite saying that I used to hear from President Clinton is what is wrong in America, not saying what is wrong in America cannot be fixed, but what is right about America. I have to believe that as long as I’m a Member here, the 19 of us are here, we’ve been elected duly by the people who sent us here, and we are here to do good work. There has to be some kind of common ground we can work on.

Mr. McLeod put out a really strong statement about the state of where we are, and I think it is worth reflecting on what we are doing, regroup, work on a communication channel, make it public. But I do

believe that at the end of the day if we could agree on a $1.3 billion expenditure, understanding that we will have some debates and arguments on that, then surely we have a lot more in common than others.

With respect to any remarks made here about the work I have done as the Minister of Health and Social Services, I have already stated that I take those comments very seriously. Before I announced the changes to the supplementary health benefits I went around to Members’ offices and a lot of Members said to put it aside here, take it to the side and it will get better. Member Yakeleya told me this. Member Menicoche said that. Member Beaulieu said that. So I think I don’t want to create a feeling that we don’t have a mechanism to communicate with each other. We’re always here. We’re talking to each other. I could, one by one, talk to all 11 Members about some of the things they have asked me to do that we are working on.

I think this is a motion that has a serious message and it’s telling Cabinet and all the Ministers that we need to do better; some of us more than others. Surely if the 19 of us could put our heads together we could work our way through this.

I also want to say that this is not the first time in this Assembly as this Cabinet that we have been questioned with a non-confidence motion. In a way this was the biggie, this was the super motion. There is a gauntlet thrown down. But I’m hoping that once we resolve this, that we respect the decision of the House, that we work together and that Members on that side know that myself as a Minister and the Cabinet are listening. Surely we are adult enough and are leaders enough that we can work out a process to work out the differences and also to pay attention to the fact that there’s a lot more that brings us together than what divides us.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Like my colleagues have mentioned, this is a very serious issue not to be taken lightly and I’ve listened very carefully to what everybody has said on both sides. Like everybody here, I’m very proud and honoured to be an MLA. I’m also proud and honoured to serve my constituents for the past 16 months. I have been proud and honoured to work with my colleagues on both sides of the floor. I’ve been proud to work with GNWT staff both here in headquarters and up and down the valley. Their efforts are crucial to our success and I applaud them all.

The past several months have been challenging for all of us. Since I became Minister, very early on I was reminded that we could be taken out, because we were put in by the Caucus. And I’ve taken that very seriously.

Also, I’ve been singled out as being delinquent in my communications. I want to point out that this is something that I think all of us can improve upon. Depending on the outcome of the motion, I’ll continue to work very seriously to improve in this area.

I thought about it and I said, well, how could we improve on the process? We have a well established process of committees and Cabinet and so on that’s been here for some time. How can we improve on communications? Is it a systemic problem? I don’t think it’s a lack of will to communicate. Perhaps now that everybody has Blackberries we’ll make sure that we send messages to everybody. But I think it’s more a function of getting together, reconfirming how everything should work, and agreeing that we will communicate and work together.

So I will commit to all my colleagues, both Cabinet and Regular Members, that I will continue to work together. Several Members have mentioned that maybe we needed to get to this point so that it will cause us to reflect on how we can work to find ways to work better together and to go forward. People are relying on us to show leadership, so let’s set aside our differences and find ways to move forward.

Improving communications is critical and we should all commit to doing that. I think we all could have done a better job of communicating, including myself. I’ll continue to try to improve in that area. I’ll make a commitment today to make a concerted effort to communicate more and better. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I know all of us work very hard and all of our families will attest to that.

I’d ask everybody to reflect on the good work that’s been done and to find ways to move forward.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

I’d venture to say that everybody with a computer terminal or a radio or a TV or whatever other means have it tuned into the House. They are watching with great anticipation and bated breath.

We are existing in the worst economic downturn since, they say, the Great Depression. Job numbers today and on the news were 129,000 Canadians lost their jobs in January; 600,000 in the States. Conditions continue to worsen.

Yesterday we tabled a $1.3 billion budget that was a result of months of collective work together; surely a testament to one of the big things that we can do together. But we stand here today in a consensus system airing our differences with a draconian motion that probably has no equal in the life of the Legislative Assembly with the impact it could potentially have on the government, on the people of the Northwest Territories.

The consensus government that we all subscribe to is under stress. I would say it’s showing some fractures. I agree with my colleague Mr. Ramsay from Kam Lake that there has to be a way for us to repair this institution, which we all say we cherish. We have an underused part of our process that I would suggest to you we should consider putting back into much greater use and that is a simple function of the big round room right up here called Caucus, where Mr. Ramsay says we should lock ourselves away and have those kind of frank chats. I heartily agree.

I’ve been here going on 14 years now. The role of Caucus has always been central, right from division and before division, to helping us work our way through extraordinary circumstances in a forum many times with no staff but the 19 Members, or the 24 when we first started, a way to put those things on the table so that we don’t come to this point in our history, whereas it’s been noted we seem to be paralyzed. I think it is incumbent upon all of us -- and I agree with Mr. Beaulieu -- nobody should be happy about how this vote is going to turn out, nobody should look upon this as a victory or a loss. What it is, and I agree once again, that it’s a wake-up call, that as we face these incredible economic challenges, whether what I think and what I have heard most Members say is a good budget and when you look at the flood of e-mails and all the communication and traffic that is going on in terms of people in the North, 10 of us, we elected you to come and fight for us, we did not elect you to come and fight among yourselves. This is the time and the test for us is to get past this moment.

We are only 16 months in and we have already reached the point of this type of motion. It tells us that our system needs to be looked at and I think we have to have that common commitment to do that. If we can’t, then it bodes very, very poorly for us and all the people of the Northwest Territories.

The budget that is before this House has a tremendous amount of good things. I have heard all the concerns in the communities. We have a clean energy piece in there, we have alternate energy, cost of living issues. People are waiting. One of our biggest capital infrastructure budgets, and yet we are in this House, in the legislative bubble, as I call it, debating this issue. Clearly, it

needs to be debated because it is here and we cannot avoid it.

As we share some of the angst and stress of being in this Legislature, I would like to just share a bit of the stress of being on this side of the House.

We were barely elected when Minister Bob McLeod was told he was going to be taken out because of the unhappiness of the Members; but months. Our very first budget, the attempt was made -- it was very, very close -- to prevent the budget from even making it into the House. To bring down, in effect, this Cabinet before we even got to present a budget.

Last October, as I made a trip down the hall to the offices of the Premier and the Minister of Health, telling them that they’re going to get taken out because the process was, decisions were being made at one end of the hall and it was also coming down the hall. Now, 16 months in, for the fourth time we have this motion. So we have reached the point where now the whole government goes. A very sweeping and draconian approach. I think if that is not a reflection or indication and a symptom that our consensus government needs our care and attention, then nothing is. I think we have come very close to the precipice, the tipping point, and that we should be agreeing that let’s do as Mr. Ramsay suggested and figure out the way we get together.

There is a long tradition of history for the people of the Northwest Territories about the value of our system of government. In the face of tight economic times, we have come up with what I think and what I have heard is a very good budget. But first we have to fix our process. We have to be able to move forward and we can’t stop the issue of the budget to do that. We have to be able to multi-task in this case.

So I want to commit, as well, that I will shoulder my responsibility and blame for what point, the point that we’re at. I take very, very seriously all the comments. We have struggled for 14 years with the issue of process and communication and it is not yet one that we have come to grips with. In every Assembly it dogs us. So I would hope that we can collectively put our goodwill first to get past the issues that are grating on us all, and rise above that to provide what the people of the Northwest Territories are expecting, which is a functioning consensus government that is going to deliver to them the services that they’ve elected us to provide to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are at a time that the Northwest Territories needs leadership; leadership that is ready to make tough choices...

---Applause

...and represents all the people, that looks at the big picture.

Mr. Speaker, I know that much of what has been discussed was about my conduct, both personal and professional. I have been told, quite some time ago, that it would happen to me too. I remember sitting in a Minister’s office many years ago when that was said to me. I left there and I thought, what are you talking about, that that would happen to me too? As I questioned him, he responded by saying, to survive in this business, you need to have a thick skin. That has been pointed out to me on a number of occasions, that my conduct is one where I respond and react to what’s been said to me, how it’s been said to me, what’s been stated in the paper about our government and our plans. That, I must say, as I did an interview once over the last budget that I was Finance Minister in past, that there was something said to me that I must have a thick skin, and that my skin was getting a little raw, because I had started taking things a little personally. I had taken the shots. I don’t think anybody can say that they can do it without getting personal to a certain level.

In fact, it was after that budget process that I sat in the chair after the House had finished and I looked out that window and I thought to myself that in my path as a Member of the Legislative Assembly I have challenged other leaders of government and other Premiers, and forcefully. I went after them on issues, on expenditures and even agreed to disagree on our politics. I thought about that, Mr. Speaker, and I thought that the next time I see the Premier of the 14th Assembly, I am going to

approach him and apologize, because I have taken such a strong stance at times and how it must have been difficult for him to take it and not take it personally.

So I had that opportunity, actually, up at the Dene Nation Assembly in Fort McPherson and I had a chance to apologize to Premier Kakfwi, Premier of the day. It just goes to show, Mr. Speaker, that at a time when we are in this House and we are before the Members and we are before this House, that things can get rather worked up and heated. And they will again from time to time.

Mr. Speaker, I have always tried to be careful with my words on how I responded to what was said or how I would say things to others, because I believe that after awhile you must be careful what you say because we live what we say. I think that’s a

reflection of where we are today in the sense of taking a strong stance in my past as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. I say Members of the Assembly should and have the right to address the issues that come before them and their constituents about what is needed in our communities and how we represent the people of the Northwest Territories.

So, Mr. Speaker, I have thought and listened intently to what Members have said. As I said earlier this day, that I am prepared to recommit. We are prepared to recommit ourselves to a process of making it work as a Legislative Assembly, the 16th Assembly.

When we sat down shortly after the last general election, we sat down and put a vision together. That vision spelled out where we wanted to go as a Legislative Assembly. Cabinet’s task from that point was to take that vision, take the fiscal resources we had, the programs and services already in place, and try to adapt as much of it as we could so that it represented the vision and goals of the 16th Legislative Assembly. And not without

some angst and some concern and frustration, were we able to come out with what we thought was a balanced approach, a balanced document. Number one of having to first recognize we must live within our means.

We sent some strong, tough messages out there. As I spoke about running for Premier, that I was not about status quo. We needed to see change, we needed to see change internally, that is how we do things as government, and we needed to change things in how we interacted with people of the Northwest Territories. So we started that change. Strategic Initiatives Committees, yes, some Members will think that information is dry and hard to go through, but that’s critical information that we are making decisions on that source.

As well, we’ve instituted a process of engaging with regional leadership with aboriginal governments and we are putting in place an engagement with the federal government. We have engaged with them. We followed the old process, but we are following with a different approach.

Mr. Speaker, as Members have talked about, there are a number of issues of concern about responsibility as Members and how we take those. Some particular issues, whether it’s income support or ATCO proposal that came forward or the Discovery Air issue or the supplementary health package. I would say, Mr. Speaker, that with consensus style government has done a lot of work, even in the 16th Legislative Assembly. We’ve

had one budget pass through unanimously in this House. We’ve worked on the second one with Members that is before the House now. We’ve

worked on a lot of things. Yes, there’s room for improvement. I don’t think anybody here in this Assembly can say there is no room for improvement, there is room in how we do things, in how we coordinate it in getting information out. Part of that is we need commitment from all Members. When we request time for meetings, we need that time for committee members, even if it means cutting into some of their summertime. We need that commitment of time so we can present the work we’ve been working on and how we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, there’s been, and I must say if I have to sit back, yes, I’ve reflected on my personal life and my choices as have been mentioned in the media, mentioned again here in a manner that is very challenging. I have always tried to keep my personal life very, very close to myself. In fact, there have only been a few Members that have been elected as part of the 13th Assembly that still

remain here, four of us: myself, Minister Miltenberger, Mr. Krutko, Mrs. Groenewegen. We’ve survived the turmoil of many Assemblies and we are part of the 16th Assembly. This is our

fourth term and we’ve seen much happen in those years. Mr. Speaker, it is the time that we have to look at. That time and those places, many things have happened. Some of them we looked at and talked to each other. Here are choices individuals have made in their lives. They need to live their lives, try to create some separation. I would say there are very few people as Members of this Assembly that would know much about my family besides what they find on the web site about what my situation is like. The simple fact is I tried to protect my family and maybe too much as to what might happen in this House.

I refused to do interviews and so on about that situation. Though much could be said to try to give accurate information about what happened. Simply, Mr. Speaker, I have to put on the record, not because I want to but because I believe I have to, because it’s being raised again that, number one, those that cannot protect themselves in this House, so I find in my role, because of my involvement with those individuals, I have to say a few things.

One, the fact that no information has come from what Members have said, media, a breach of confidentiality of information, there has been none. I will state that now on the record in this House. In fact, if you want to talk about information flow between Members and what happens in committee and what happens when it comes to Ministers, we have to look at ourselves. This is a consensus government. We share information. We talk to each other. We share that information openly. The trouble becomes when you are not ready to release it publicly and we are talking about

proposals that may go out to the media before we have all the documentation. So that we need to work together is absolutely true.

Number two, Mr. Speaker, again, the decision when it became public, it was ourselves, myself and the person I am involved with, we went to the appropriate people and notified them of what was happening. Yes, Members are concerned about the timing, but we had in mind families first when you talk about families. Deal with families first. It is never good, Mr. Speaker, when a family, man or woman, has to sit their family down and tell them what was happening. That’s the message I had to deliver. I took it very seriously and I took that approach. From that point on, I said nothing about what’s happened, how it’s happened and tried to refute what was being said.

I will not go on beyond this. That is a personal choice I made in my life and I live with that and, as my colleague said, I will be judged. I will be judged by the Creator, as will we all about our own conduct. I have thought much about how I would react to this and how it would come forward and to what level I would go to settle a score of all the things said about myself and my involvement. But, you know, Mr. Speaker, one thing I will still stick to is what my father said to me: be respectful, don’t talk bad about others and try to do the right thing. I am not a perfect man, never said I was and never say we will be, but when it comes to doing the job, Mr. Speaker, as we heard from other Ministers here, we have taken that very seriously. The rules of conduct, the processes involved, how we present information followed all the steps every step of the way.

If I am tarnished a bit because of my personal decisions, then I wear that as well, and I have been as it is very public. But as for the way we worked, it’s a challenging environment to do the work we need to get done. Did we do a 180 turnaround from the vision and goals? I don’t believe so. We have to take the vision and goal and make it fit with what we’re presented with, the resources we have and we are still going to be challenged. Even at those times I remark that financial ripples can lead to dangerous waves. As Minister Miltenberger pointed out, those dangerous waves are here. Now, could I have predicted that when we made that budget preparation and having to live within our means? No, but we said enough. Our expenditures were outweighing our revenues. We had to make some decisions. Yes, we need to do a program review as we go forward to make some of the more substantial changes to how we operate as government, but importantly, Mr. Speaker, when you first take office you are going to have to do some changes immediately because we could not sit and wait for another six months or another year to wait for some of the results of the report.

So we find ourselves in a situation and unfortunately, as Mr. Miltenberger pointed out, there’s been a number of occasions where I have had a visit in my office and been told this event will occur to you in the next couple of days, that your leadership is questioned. I have had to live with that and tried to work with Members. I agree there’s a different way of doing some of our business.

When it came up to this motion, we went into Caucus and I asked if there was a motion. That’s the avenue we used to deal with business in some of those areas. I hope we can use that avenue and that tool to do some of our work.

I think the opportunity is before us. We definitely have to take the message seriously. We have to change the way we do business. I am prepared to make that change and as soon as we can in some areas that we can make the change, we will work at doing that.

I have heard many things today and they do weigh heavy on myself as a responsibility as Premier of the Northwest Territories. They always have.

When we talk about programs and services, I have to talk about the people we represent; small communities, large communities, trying to save the jobs we have in the Territory, try to build new jobs in the Territory, try to come up with the right balance.

We won’t always come up with information or a decision that will make everybody happy. But as leadership, all of us will have to make some choices, and choices that we know will make some people back home not happy, I think, because it’s in the best interest of the people of the Northwest Territories who make those choice, for the long-term sustainability of our Territory we make those choices. That’s the focus we’ve been putting on. That’s my personal focus, as Premier of the Northwest Territories, where we go.

There are a lot of issues that we can talk about how we’ve done good things for the people in the North, how we will continue to do those good things in the work that we will produce as Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly.

But we will also be challenged with some decisions to come up. There is a realism there that we will have to park some of these initiatives; some because they will cost too much to implement in this day and age. Will we have to back off on some of our infrastructure? We may have to do that. But right now, as we are working, we think we can do the work that’s required of us to make incremental steps to make the lives better for the people of the Northwest Territories.

I am hoping that as 19 Members we can get the job done. We need to pull it together and get it done. It is not just the seven Members; I realize that. I understand Members very well. I’ve been a Member of this Assembly for four terms. So it’s going to take 19 of us to get it done. It’s not buying the votes. I am absolutely against that policy, that way of doing business: the old boys’ club. From the day I got elected to now when I stand here today, I’ve worked to represent the people equally, even if that meant making choices that would affect my own community, my constituency in the greater good. I’ve done that. I’ve gone back home to tell them the bad news on a number of occasions.

I hope we don’t have to do as much, but I’m prepared to do that again if we have to make more of those types of choices that affect even my constituency. Because at the end of the day, trying to put a package together that builds the North, strengthens the North so when we get through this economic turmoil we come out stronger and better and a better player in Canada, where our children have an opportunity for a future that is better than ours today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I will now go to the mover of the motion for some closing remarks. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank everybody who participated in this debate on this motion today, both Members on this side of the House, and thank you to the Cabinet side for also contributing to this by sharing their thoughts on this motion that’s come before us today.

I want to just wrap up. I don’t want to take an extraordinary amount of time. The Members have very loudly put the concerns that have brought about this motion, this drastic motion, being brought to the floor of the House; as some have indicated, “unprecedented” in this history of this government.

Mr. Miltenberger refers to this as a draconian motion. But I just want to remind Mr. Miltenberger that in fact before the House recessed last time, some Members had said oh, we should have had a leadership review at the two-year mark, that would have been somehow better. But I do want to remind Mr. Miltenberger that we on this side of the House brought forward a motion to have a mid-term review within the next six months, but that motion was nayed by Mr. Miltenberger and so that did not proceed. So let’s remember that, now that you’re asking, you nayed on the last day of session when we tried to bring forward something like that.

So here we are with this motion before us today. Some Cabinet Ministers have chosen to refer to the concerns that are being raised here as our personal issues. These are not our personal issues. These are our constituency issues. We put a list of them right in front of the investment in the Deh Cho Bridge, in supplementary health care, to the board reform. I mean, I went through them all yesterday. I’m not going to through them all again. But we have hit a roadblock in terms of our having our voice and our representation of our constituents heard and respected

by this

government. These are not personal issues. These are the issues of the

constituents who sent us here

to represent their interests. And this today -- I’m sorry -- is the absolute frustration felt on this side of the House by a lot of Members. This is not just one or two Members; you’ve heard it. And if you didn’t hear it, then you still don’t get it, which we’ve been wondering about for quite some time, whether or not, even when we do communicate and we do try to share, whether Members who are elected get it.

Now, someone used the words whether taking this action and if we were successful in passing a motion, and I think Members have spoken enough that anybody can do the math now and see that this motion probably isn’t going to pass. But if they think that this is about humbling Members on the other side of the House...This isn’t about us. This is about the people we represent. And nobody sitting on that side of the House has a God-given right to be there. You’re just there because we elected you to take that responsibility. This isn’t about somebody being higher or better or, you know, somebody being humbled. We should all be the humble servants of the people that we’re here to represent, and some have been honoured with the confidence of this House to take on special areas of duties and responsibilities on our behalf. And only see it as that, because when we begin to understand it as something different, that’s when we run into difficulty. We are 19 Members. This is consensus government. We are all equals here.

So for myself, Mr. Speaker, this comes down to an issue of leadership. I’ve been listening to everything. I’m going what is the common denominator here for every one of these issues? Whether we’re talking about an individual Cabinet Minister or an individual departmental initiative that comes forward that affects our people, it comes down to the question of leadership.

I don’t know how this Cabinet can honestly function in this environment. There is a dark cloud hanging over this Assembly. I appreciate Mr. Roland, the Premier, sharing his thoughts with us today. It would be easy for us to say well, let’s just go home and hope it gets better. But we’ve been saying that for months. We’ve sat down, we’ve had the heart-to-heart talks. We have gone to the office. I’m

sorry, but there is an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet here, that goes to the leadership and team building over here. I’m sorry, but for me that leadership is not there.

I had high hopes. I thought Premier Roland was an excellent Finance Minister in the last government. As second in command -- I don’t know if the Finance Minister is second in command -- but as a second to Premier Handley, I thought he did an excellent job. But when it came time for him to take the reins, whether it was affected by his personal or family issues or whatever affected it, he was not able to build that team he needed to build over there, and therefore we’ve been coming up against Ministers and initiatives that seem to be happening in random and not with any sense of order and any sense of proper communication and vetting through this side of the House.

So, Mr. Speaker, I’ve been here a long time too, like Premier Roland. Myself, obviously I support the motion. I moved the motion. I appreciate the honest words brought forward by Members on this side of the House. This is not about personalities. I don’t have any magic powers. When I go home to Hay River, I meet with my constituents. I barely have time. We don’t get together. We get together here and I chair the Priorities and Planning committee. I try to bring out the strengths and the thoughts, and we respect each other and try to work together on this side of the House.

Now I see the leadership lacking on that side of the House, and I’m sorry, I think -- and I said this, this morning in my Member’s statement and I’ll say it again -- that the solution to this problem is for the Premier to resign and let somebody else take the job. I’m not going to mince my words here. I’m not known as a person who minces my words.

I listened to every Cabinet Minister over there speak today. I listened to Mr. McLeod, who said that if he failed to communicate, he took responsibility for that. I’m talking about Mr. Bob McLeod. He took responsibility for any parts he had in failing to communicate. In fact, I want to say that Mr. McLeod is one of the Ministers who when you send him an e-mail or ask him a question or send a constituent on to him, he personally answers the communication. I want to tell him today, on the record, how much I appreciate that. I don’t know if it’s something that deputy ministers do or if that’s from his background, but he is a communicator. I mean, sometimes I do give him a hard time about not being a bit more animated in some of his dialogue with us. You know, he even takes that very well, and I like that. I like that about him.

Mr. Michael McLeod...This is the third term that I’ve been in the government with Mr. Michael McLeod. I

think Mr. Michael McLeod would make an excellent Premier. I think he could bring...If you want to talk about going forward in this House, what are we going to do after this motion today? This is my chance to give my personal opinion. I don’t see very many options of somebody here who has not gone or taken sides and said things that you can’t take back. We need somebody that can unify us and bring us together. I see Mr. Michael McLeod as somebody that could do that, that could bring this side of the House and that side of the House and let’s get on with business.

Mr. Michael Miltenberger...Minister Michael Miltenberger is great on the energy stuff and he’s very intelligent, he’s very hard working. He lacks people skills. He annoys people.

---Laughter

He annoys people greatly, including me some days, but I cannot take away from him that he is an extremely intelligent person and a very hardworking person. I think he is very key to this Cabinet and I do applaud him on the budget he brought forward. It is a very good piece of work and we thank him for that.

Ms. Lee: passionate, terrible portfolio, I agree with her. What she said today, I agree with. The supplementary health benefits for seniors was a terrible mistake; I’m sorry. But we’ll continue to fight about that later. But for the most part in terms of being...From my experience, and I know that not all Members share my thoughts, but we do need to focus more on the services to the people in the small communities.

To my colleague Mr. Jackson Lafferty, a very up and coming finding his stride in a difficult environment, but deserves a lot of our respect too. I wished he was a little more hands on and left a little bit less to his staff in terms of his communications. But somebody with absolute promise in the long term. I thought I would never be back in this government again, but I would say keep your eye on Jackson Lafferty from the Tlicho, because he is somebody that will be here for a long time I hope and will do good things for the people of the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

To the Premier, I just very respectfully ask that he would do good by the people of the Northwest Territories and hold to a standard that has been the normal practice of this House, and that is to order your affairs in such a way as to not erode public confidence. I’m sorry; but no matter what he’s done

in the past or how good he’s done, the turn of events of the last six months has caused people in the North -- we’ve heard it all over the place -- to lose confidence in him as Premier. If he could do the honourable thing and resign, he may find himself back on that side of the House again, in a different capacity.

But I do support the motion. I support it and understand fully the frustration of those.

I forgot to mention Mr. Robert C. McLeod.

---Laughter

I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. A very pragmatic leader as well. Somebody who calls it like he sees it and, again, getting acquainted with the role and the job that he has been elected to do. I’m sure that he’ll find his stride. It’s a learning curve; it’s a steep learning curve. I’m sure he’ll find his stride, he will bring great integrity and great service to the people of the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

So, Mr. Speaker, the motion is on the floor. I’ve taken enough time. The Members have shared their view. Please do not take this as a personal issue. This is about getting the business of the House done. I would ask that there be a recorded vote on this. I thank my colleagues for sharing. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member is asking for a recorded vote, Mr. Clerk. All those in favour of the motion, please stand.

All those opposed to the motion, please stand.

All those abstaining, please stand. The results of the record vote: eight for, 10 opposed, zero abstaining. The motion is defeated.

---Defeated

Colleagues, I want to take just a moment to comment on the motion that has just been defeated and how it impacts the work ahead of us.

From my vantage point in the Speaker’s chair, I have witnessed many times and occasions when Members from both sides of the House have displayed a lack of respect for each other and the roles that all Members play in carrying out their duties.

I’ve heard comments during the motion that tries to bring maybe some humour to this. None should walk away from this vote with a feeling of victory or defeat. Each of us, all 19, must walk away from this with a lesson learned.

There are many critics of our system of government. There are many that might suggest that we have not matured enough as a political institution to govern ourselves responsibly. There are many who suggest that party politics is the answer to our problems.

As Professor Graham White of the University of Toronto has written: ”It is the possibility and the frequency of cooperation, compromise and accommodation that defines consensus government.”

It is up to us to prove that we can make this system of government work. We can’t do that through backroom deals, token communications and personal agendas. We can only do it through open and honest communication, and an understanding of and respect for our respective roles and accountabilities.

The time has come for us to focus our energies on the many challenges facing the people of the Northwest Territories.

I wish each of you luck and perspective as we continue the important work that lies before us in the weeks, the months and the years to come.

Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Clerk, item 24, orders of the day.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Monday, February 9th at 1:30 p.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 3:29 p.m.