This is page numbers 15 - 30 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 1st Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was premier.

Topics

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak a little bit about consensus government, which always seems to come into sharper focus around election time.

I believe that we do not have to make a choice between consensus government or party politics. Sometimes if we find the things that we don’t like about consensus government, we think the only alternative is party politics. I don’t agree with that, but we have a consensus government that can be improved upon and can become more consensus.

The Cabinet that we have selected and have now been sworn in are the front line as we advance on tackling the issues and the challenges facing the Northwest Territories. I would like to see us as the Regular Members being that next line behind them, like a rear guard to support them in their role and to help in more ways than what we have in the past.

I spoke with the Premier, Mr. McLeod, when we walked into the Assembly the other day. We come in here as 19 Members. We’re all equally qualified to take on any of these roles. Some have more experience, they’re from different regions, have

different backgrounds and perspectives, and that’s why we choose people to take on various areas of leadership within this group of 19. But I think there’s more opportunity for the Cabinet Ministers and even yourself, Mr. Speaker, to turn to the Regular Members on this side of the House to assist you in doing the duties of a Cabinet Minister.

Oftentimes it’s a hectic and busy time. There are functions to attend, there are conferences to speak at, there are all kinds of activities, and in this next four years going forward I would like to see this Cabinet consider the skills and experience and talents on this side of the House and allow us to help you in the performing of your duties both in formal and informal ways.

Mr. Speaker, during the last few days we’ve heard from people on the matter of consensus government. We read an editorial in the paper from a long-time news person, Mr. Jack Sigvaldson. We saw an interesting letter from Lois Little. We saw interesting commentary being put forward by Charles Furlong. These are all, I think, comments and expressions of interest, in how our government is run, by the public that we need to take seriously and we need to listen to, because I don’t think that the way we do things now…

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Mrs. Groenewegen, you have now exceeded your time for your Member’s statement.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, could I please seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?

---Unanimous consent granted.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Consensus is not clearly defined in the NWT Act. There is room for improvement. We have discretion, and we have the latitude to change the way we do things and to improve them, and I look forward to working with Members of this House to accomplish that in the next four years. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day we’d heard from Mr. Miltenberger that there was a report coming forward to this particular Cabinet regarding recommendations for addictions. I’d like this government to be known as a government that took action on the addictions problem.

Before the Premier hands out the portfolios, I’d like him to seriously consider giving whoever takes the Department of Health and Social Services a clear

and precise mandate that they must finally take up arms and deal with the addictions problems.

I don’t need to lecture this House about how closely homelessness is related to addictions, but I’ll tell you that they are interrelated in a way that affects poverty, that affects employment, that hurts people in the sense that they may lose their jobs, it may lead to crime, it has serious impacts on family. The list is endless.

The attitude of the past government has been that there are one or two places to serve or deal with addictions problems. I will tell you that we have very little results to show from it that we’ve proven anything that we’ve done it right.

Stanton is not a treatment facility for addictions. With all great respect, Nats’ejee K’eh is not a treatment centre for dealing with crack or meth. We must take up arms against this cause. Even if we only move this file inches forward, we must never surrender to these types of demons, because they are stealing the souls of good people and they are destroying the lives of families.

As I understand it, as I said, this issue will be coming to the Cabinet table. If this Cabinet wants to do something on this particular file, they can. They need to have a clear instruction from the Premier and a mandate to do so. They will have my support if they wish to do this, but I wish they not sit on their particular hands as they have in the past.

Finally, the downtown has a day shelter, and it was meant to help people who have homeless problems and to give them somewhere to go during the day. Critical to that function is it gives them some options of what to do next. We need to look at building interrelationships with other NGOs, but how to fight the (a) homeless problem, but (b) also give people options for their particular addictions. This government should not, and I hope will not, lose their partnership that they have with the City of Yellowknife, BHP and, of course, the Department of Health. It would be a sorry state of affairs if we did nothing yet another term on the fight against addictions.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Grant Hood, who is the SAO for the Town of Inuvik and a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes. Welcome.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Dehcho Grand Chief Sam Gargan in the gallery, as well as a former resident of Fort Simpson Mr. Denezeh Nakehko. Welcome.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two members of the Enterprise Hamlet Council: Mr. Craig McMaster and Mr. Dean Maher. Hopefully I got their names right.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the grand chief of the Dehcho First Nation, Mr. Sam Gargan. We had a very good meeting this morning and we were both senior boys at Lapointe Hall at one time.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. I’d like to welcome everybody to this morning’s proceedings. Welcome to the House.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked a little bit about consensus government. The headline in today’s Yellowknifer is “McLeod Reigns Supreme,” with a picture of Premier McLeod above the headline. I think we need to maybe inform the media a little bit about how consensus government works, because we elect people to that side of the House and I don’t think that they are reigning. I think we have honoured them with the role of leadership in our government and we want to be there to help meet the needs of our people together, together with them.

I’d like to ask Premier McLeod if he has a theory or a way that he could see that we could do more to work together as 19 Members of a consensus government and how that might be reflected in his communication to his new Cabinet in the way that we do things – for example, when there are events to attend, there’s travel that Ministers undertake – so that we can incorporate more of the expertise and the skills and the knowledge of the Members on this side of the House.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the newspapers have to sell papers, and that wasn’t a quote of mine.

My approach always has been to involve as many Members as possible. Whenever I travelled as a Minister, I always invited some of the Members along. A lot of times when we went to the United States, I’d bring at least two Members along. On several occasions where I was invited for speaking engagements, if I couldn’t go, I would ask a Member to cover for me. On trips I couldn’t go, I’d also ask Members to attend on my behalf.

This is an item that we put on our agenda for the Cabinet retreat, where we’ll all agree how we will be able to work together with all of you, and how to communicate with each other and how to work together to get things done. A lot of it is sharing of information, listening, responding quickly to questions and queries, and providing information as requested. So we’ll be discussing all those things. As well, we’ll be talking about attendance at federal/provincial/territorial conferences.

I think that wherever possible, it would be helpful to bring, perhaps, chairs of committees along, if time is available and we can do it. Those are the type of things we’ll be discussing.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Those are all good ideas. Not only does it give Members on this side a chance to participate and support Cabinet Ministers and the Premier in the fulfillment of their roles, but it also gives a valuable insight to Members on this side. Many of these young Members will eventually be on that side. It’s a shadowing that I think benefits everybody.

When we arrive here and we do choose our leadership, seven of 19 go to the Cabinet room and 11 of the 19 go to the Regular Members’ Caucus room. There is not, in my opinion, enough of hearing everybody’s voice. You could be an amazing voice at the Cabinet table and have a lot of things to say and a lot of good, but with Cabinet confidentiality and Cabinet solidarity, the public, and even us, we may not hear enough of that. I believe that something is lost.

Does the Premier agree that there may be an expanded role for our Caucus where we sit as 19 equal Members and talk about initiatives and ideas in a greater way than we do normally on an annual basis or at the beginning of our term?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I believe we should do that. I think the way we started this 17th Assembly where

we, all 19 of us, sat with Aboriginal governments I think showed that we can work together on that basis. I think for major issues we should meet as Caucus to discuss. I think in November we’re going to get together for two weeks to set the strategic direction for this government and also to finalize or formalize our vision and goals and objectives for the next four years, and our priorities. I think it’s very important for us to work as a Caucus together.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

I knew that was coming and I will only make one more supplementary. As the Premier, will the Premier commit to having input on our Caucus agenda from the Cabinet side now, agree to bring forward to the Caucus, together with the Regular Members, the exploration of opportunities for the Caucus to consider more than what we have typically in the past?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

We will be discussing that in our Cabinet retreat and we’re prepared to discuss it at the first opportunity in Caucus.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are in follow-up to my Member’s statement.

I’d like to ask the Premier, relative to the comments that he made on Wednesday, unedited Hansard indicated that the Premier had said that he would be willing to support a loan guarantee for the project to replace the water and sewer infrastructure at Northland. I’d like to ask the Premier to explain to me what is meant by a loan guarantee and how is that beneficial to the city and to the project.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.