Thank you, Madam Chair. Just before I begin here, I just want to echo some of the comments made by my colleagues, and that’s in no way are we disrespecting any Aboriginal groups, and in fact, I think that the Aboriginal and GNWT relations are as strong as ever, and it started with the 17th Legislative Assembly. I know all you guys
can remember the time we were down in Detah and we started those discussions, and continue those discussions. As elected leaders both in Aboriginal groups, municipal or territorial, we do what’s for our residents and constituents that we represent. It’s under this leadership and this government that those relations were brought forth, so I don’t think it is a deciding factor in how we vote, whether it’s 19 or 21, because I believe those relationships are already strong today, stronger than when we got elected here.
There was another comment I just wanted to make reference to that was brought up earlier, was that Yellowknife Members are a minority in this Legislative Assembly, on this side of the House and on that side of the House. The last I saw, Inuvik only had one vote on this side of the House and Inuvik only has one vote with Cabinet, so I don’t see where the minority is coming from. As Members of this Legislative Assembly, we should
be representing the residents of the NWT, not the residents of Inuvik, not the residents of Yellowknife by themselves, but the territory as a whole and everybody that resides here in the NWT.
We’ve spent four hours on this issue, and we’re discussing whether we’re going to put two Members in this House or not. I’ve been here two years. There’s not a day that I remember we spent four hours discussing early childhood development, four hours discussing the homeless people, the mental health and addictions, socio-economic agreements, fracking issue, which is big now, and I know moving on with this government we’re not going to spend four hours discussing these issues at all. Education, physicians, our low literacy rates, graduation rates, important issues to our people. They’re not worried about whether or not we have two people or not and if this is going to go to court or not. We have people out there that are sick, that are homeless, and yet we spend the whole afternoon here discussing whether or not this government should have two more MLAs when people down south are representing way more population than we are.
And you know what? I’ve been a community member. I’ve sat on municipal politics, I volunteer. I work with the youth and the elders. I’ve been a government employee for a number of years, and now I’m a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and being in this House, I’ve sat on committees where I’ve never sat with such a strong committee such as the Social Programs committee in all my working years, and I’ll tell you, each and every member that sits on that committee represents their jurisdiction and the people of the Northwest Territories effectively and efficiently. Adding two Members, would it make a difference? You just have to listen to the throne speech yesterday. Look at all that we’ve done as 19 Members. We’ve done a lot. I know Members on this side of the House can agree with that. We got a commission report in front of us that is pushing some Members against each other.
Like I said, this is my first time in government. I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out but I’m very happy, and I know the residents of the NWT are happy with all the work that we’ve done. Whether or not we have two more Members to repeat what we have already said in the next two years, we’ve got good direction moving forward. We’ve got a lot of action plans that are coming out, Anti-Poverty Strategy, Early Childhood Development Framework, Economic Opportunities Strategy, things that are going to guide us 19 Members who had direction and input into that to continue to make this government what it is.
I don’t agree with the extra two Members proposing the 21 Members here. It’s sparked a lot of really good debate and I respect all Members’ comments on this. When we’re looking at all these social issues, infrastructure issues within the people we
represent here, I’m in favour of 19 Members. I feel the 19 Members here are very strong in doing the work on behalf of the NWT and moving forward is going to be very strong as well. I will be supporting this motion of 19 Members, and whether it goes to the court system or not, you know, that’s the chance this government’s going to have to take. But in a statement I made earlier, we’re all here to make tough decisions that affect the livelihood, the health and well-being of our people, and 19 Members I feel is adequate and that’s what I will support.