Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Longstanding questions about the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management provided for under devolution remain
unanswered. There remains an apparent and disturbing lack of responsibility regarding the mandate of the House and the mandate of the Intergovernmental Council, given that the council is supposed to respect the autonomy and authority of each government over its own lands.
On February 14th I asked the Premier how Regular
Members would have input into the terms of reference for this administrated structure. The Premier replied, “Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t think setting up an Intergovernmental Council is going to change any constitution or any construct. Members here represent all the people in the Northwest Territories and, as I said, the legislation that would set up the Intergovernmental Council. I would welcome input from Members as to providing input in terms of our participation with the Intergovernmental Council.”
When asked to take the lead in ensuring the council’s proceedings would be public and transparent, the Premier said he would be pleased to do so. Seven months later, and just before the inaugural meeting a few weeks ago to set the terms of reference for the council, I again raised the matter. I asked for MLA input into the draft terms of reference before they were finalized and observer status at council meetings. Days later, when a draft was to be available, the Premier informed me that the terms of reference had already been finalized and were available to anyone who wanted them.
Opportunity for input? Zip. Terms of reference provided to date? Zip. MLA observer status? No way. So much for consensus government. So much for the people’s representatives participating in governance and setting priorities.
I asked the Minister recently what the department’s legislative priorities were, and incredibly, I was informed that this depended on the Intergovernmental Council. The Members of this House have an obligation to the people who elected them and a duty to set the priorities of this House.
To what degree has the Premier arbitrarily undermined our responsibilities and authorities through the apparent powers of the Intergovernmental Council? I am very concerned that the mandate of Regular MLAs is becoming superfluous to some degree in the decisions regarding legislation and other MLA roles could be usurped by the Intergovernmental Council.
Transparency is one of the cornerstones of consensus government. What other decisions, properly belonging to the House, are the Premier and Intergovernmental Council making without the participation of MLAs? If the Premier has his way…
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted