Northwest Territories
Legislative Assembly
15th Assembly
TERRITORIAL LEADERSHIP
COMMITTEE
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
Pages 1 - 5
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Mr. Roger Allen
(Inuvik Twin Lakes)
Hon. Brendan Bell
(Yellowknife South)
Mr. Bill Braden
(Great Slave)
Mr. Paul Delorey
(Hay River North)
Hon. Charles Dent
(Frame Lake)
Mrs. Jane Groenewegen
(Hay River South)
Hon. Joe Handley
(Weledeh)
Mr. Robert Hawkins
(Yellowknife Centre)
Mr. David Krutko
(Mackenzie Delta)
Ms. Sandy Lee
(Range Lake)
Hon. Michael McLeod
(Deh Cho)
Mr. Kevin Menicoche
(Nahendeh)
Hon. Michael Miltenberger
(Thebacha)
Mr. Calvin Pokiak
(Nunakput)
Mr. Dave Ramsay
(Kam Lake)
Hon. Floyd Roland
(Inuvik Boot Lake)
Mr. Bobby Villeneuve
(Tu Nedhe)
Mr. Norman Yakeleya
(Sahtu)
Mr. Henry Zoe
(North Slave)
Officers
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly
Mr. Tim Mercer
Deputy Clerk Clerk of Committees Assistant Clerk Law Clerks
Mr. Doug Schauerte Mr. Dave Inch Andrew Stewart Ms. Katherine R. Peterson, Q.C.
Ms. Karen Lajoie
Box 1320
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Tel: (867) 669-2200 Fax: (867) 920-4735 Toll-Free: 1-800-661-0784
http://www.assembly.gov.nt.ca
Published under the authority of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CALL TO ORDER 1
PRAYER 1
REVIEW AND ADOPTION OF AGENDA 1
OPENING REMARKS BY CLERK OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 1
CONFIRMATION OF PROCESS FOR ELECTION OF SPEAKER 1
ELECTION OF SPEAKER 1
SPEAKER-ELECT ASSUMES CHAIR OF TERRITORIAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE 1
CONFIRMATION OF PROCESS FOR ELECTION OF CABINET MEMBER 1
ELECTION OF CABINET MINISTER 2
ADJOURNMENT 5
June 1, 2004 TERRITORIAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE Page 5
YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
Members Present
Mr. Allen, Hon. Brendan Bell, Mr. Braden, Mr. Delorey, Hon. Charles Dent, Mrs. Groenewegen, Hon. Joe Handley, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Krutko, Ms. Lee, Hon. Michael McLeod, Mr. Menicoche, Hon. Michael Miltenberger, Mr. Pokiak, Mr. Ramsay, Hon. Floyd Roland, Mr. Villeneuve, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Zoe
June 1, 2004 TERRITORIAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE Page 5
ITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The second meeting of the Territorial Leadership Committee of the 15th Legislative Assembly is now called to order. I would like to ask Mr. Roland to lead us in an opening prayer, please.
ITEM 2: PRAYER
---Prayer
ITEM 3: REVIEW AND ADOPTION OF AGENDA
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Thank you, Mr. Roland. All Members have copies of the draft agenda before them. I should advise you at the commencement of these proceedings, that we are not being televised other than on the local internal television system.
The agenda is before you. Is there anything to add to the agenda at this point? Is this agenda approved?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Agreed.
ITEM 4: OPENING REMARKS BY THE CLERK
OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my duty to advise the committee that I have received a letter from the Honourable David Krutko advising of his resignation as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
ITEM 5: CONFIRMATION OF PROCESS
FOR ELECTION OF A SPEAKER
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): The first order of business this morning will be the election of a new Speaker. The process for election of a new Speaker will be with nominations from the floor. Once nominations have closed, voting will commence by secret ballot. There will be no speeches or questions and if only one nomination is received, that Member shall be acclaimed. Are all Members of the committee in agreement with this process?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Agreed.
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Once you have chosen your Speaker-elect, that person will assume the Chair of the Territorial Leadership Committee and will preside over the remainder of the proceedings.
ITEM 6: ELECTION OF SPEAKER
Nominations
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): I will now open the floor for nominations for position of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Are there any nominations? Mr. Krutko.
MR. KRUTKO: Mr. Chairman, I wish to nominate Paul Delorey, Member for Hay River North, for the position of Speaker.
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Mr. Delorey, do you accept the nomination?
MR. DELOREY: I accept.
ITEM 7: SPEAKER-ELECT ASSUMES CHAIR OF
TERRITORIAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
CLERK OF THE HOUSE (Mr. Mercer): Mr. Delorey has accepted the nomination. Are there other nominations for the position of Speaker? There are no other nominations for the position of Speaker. I hereby declare nominations closed. I would like to ask Mr. Delorey to please come forward and assume chairmanship of the Territorial Leadership Committee.
---Applause
Comments By Speaker-Elect Paul Delorey
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Members, I would like to make a few opening comments before we move on. Let me say what an honour it is to have been selected as your Speaker. I would like to thank Mr. Krutko for his excellent work, not only as a Speaker for the first six months of this assembly, but also as Chair of the Board of Management, Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committee of the Whole of this and previous assemblies. I will have more to say to the House once the formal appointment has been made in the House later today.
ITEM 8: CONFIRMATION OF PROCESS
FOR ELECTION OF CABINET MEMBER
I did not intend to make lengthy opening remarks as I am sure all Members and the public who are watching us today are aware of why the Territorial Leadership Committee is meeting. However, for the record, this is the second meeting of the Territorial Leadership Committee of the 15th Legislative Assembly. The first meeting was held in December 2003 when we elected the Speaker, Premier and Members of Cabinet, by secret ballot.
Today we are gathered to elect one Member from the northern constituencies to fill the vacancy on Cabinet. This is based on the adopted custom of having two Members of Cabinet from northern, Yellowknife and southern constituencies. The northern constituencies consist of Nunakput, Inuvik Twin Lakes, Inuvik Boot Lake, Mackenzie Delta, Sahtu and the North Slave. To confirm the process for the election of a Cabinet Member you have in front of you, in addition to the agenda, a package of information including the guidelines and the procedures for the selection of the new Member of Cabinet.
The process for electing a Cabinet Minister will begin with a call for nominations. Only those Members from northern ridings may be nominated. Once a nominated Member has accepted the nomination, his name will be added to the ballot. Once nominations have been closed, each candidate will be allowed to make a 10-minute speech. There will be no question period for this process. Once the speeches have been made, the committee will commence voting. Members will receive their ballots at the Clerk’s table, vote in the voting booths located at each side of the Speaker’s chair and drop your ballots in the box in front of the table.
After all Members have voted, I will cast the final vote. Following that, the ballot box will be taken to the Clerk’s office where the ballots will be counted. Once the ballots have been counted, the bells will be rung for five minutes and the committee will reconvene. I will announce the results of the ballot and either declare a winner or announce those names that remain in the ballot for the second vote.
At this time, does the committee agree with the process that I have just laid out?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Agreed.
ITEM 9: ELECTION OF CABINET MEMBER
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Thank you. I will now open the floor for nominations. The nomination forms are in your package to use. Are there any nominations for the position of Cabinet Minister? Mr. Menicoche.
Nominations
MR. MENICOCHE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wish to nominate the honourable David Krutko, the Member for Mackenzie Delta, for a position on Cabinet.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Does Mr. Krutko accept the nomination?
MR. KRUTKO: I accept.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Mr. Krutko has accepted the nomination. Your name will be added to the ballot. Are there any further nominations for the position of Minister? Mr. Allen.
MR. ALLEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wish to nominate Mr. Norman Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu, for a position on Cabinet.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Thank you. Mr. Allen has nominated Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Yakeleya, do you accept the nomination?
MR. YAKELEYA: Yes, I do.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Yakeleya’s name will be added to the ballot. Are there any further nominations for position of Minister? Mr. Villeneuve.
MR. VILLENEUVE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wish to nominate Mr. Pokiak, Member for Nunakput, for a position on Cabinet.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Pokiak, do you accept the nomination?
MR. POKIAK: For the record, Mr. Chairman, I will accept the nomination. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN (Mr. Delorey): You have accepted the nomination. His name will be added to the ballot. Are there any further nominations for the position on Cabinet? Hearing none, I will call on the candidates to make their 10-minute speech. In order of speeches, it will be alphabetical by surname. Mr. Krutko, you are first. The floor is yours.
Candidates' Speeches
Mr. Krutko’s Candidacy Speech
MR. KRUTKO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this time, I would like to thank my nominator, Mr. Menicoche, for putting my name forward. Also, I would like to take this time to thank each and every one of you for having the opportunity to serve as your Speaker for the last six months. It has been an honour and a privilege and it’s a job that I very much enjoy. I think there is a time and place for each of us to do our duty and to serve our people and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Serving the people is the most fundamental luxury that a lot of people don’t have an opportunity to do. That’s something we need to consider when we are elected into public office or serve on boards and agencies, but most importantly to serve the people of the Northwest Territories.
I have been involved in public service for over 20 years by way of band councils, hamlet councils, and hunters’ and trappers’ associations. Also I served on regional bodies. I was vice-president of the Mackenzie-Delta Regional Council. I served on territorial bodies, also. I was vice-president of the Metis Association of the Northwest Territories and also was a member of the Dene-Metis Secretariat.
It has been a pleasure to serve the people in the Northwest Territories over the last 20 years. I have served nine years in this House. Some days were good and other days were bad, yet that’s the cycle we go through in public life. There is never a consistent way of dealing with issues. Issues are dealt with by looking at them by both sides. There are pros and cons to issues. There are good sides and there are also bad sides to issues. It’s to find that middle ground that we all have to strive for to do the best job we can for the people of the Northwest Territories.
I have had the opportunity to serve on public agencies in the Northwest Territories. I served on the Beaufort-Delta Land Use Planning Commission back in the late 1980s. That really gave me an eye opener on communities such as Paulatuk, Holman Island, Sachs Harbour and the Beaufort-Delta communities and really get an understanding of what land use to elders who aren’t with us here today meant and the standards they would like us to follow in the future. I have had the privilege of also serving on the Gwich’in Land and Water Board, the Mackenzie Land and Water Board and I have also served on the Northwest Territories Tourism Training Group, where I served as co-chair.
It’s important that by serving on these boards and agencies that it builds not only stature with other people that you serve with, but builds a knowledge base that we all have to share with each other and not keep it in your own knowledge but to share it with other people, so they can also learn from those experiences.
The most important aspect of what I have been able to accomplish this year in the House…Coming into the Legislative Assembly during the 13th Legislative Assembly in 1995, we had a drastic cut of 10 percent right across the board in our federal transfer payment. It was over $100 million. We had to make some tough decisions. We had to make changes to how government governs, and it did have a major impact on programs and services, the size of government. We do have tough decisions to make here again today in the 15th Legislative Assembly. We have gone through this in the 14th Legislative Assembly, where I also had the privilege of serving. I also had the privilege of serving on several special committees and also as the Chair of the Governance and Economic Development committee during the 13th Assembly. I also had the privilege of serving under Speaker Gargan and also Speaker Whitford as the Deputy Speaker of this House, which was a real honour to be chairman of Committee of the Whole.
I think that we have to reach out now, and I have taken major steps by way of stating exactly where I wanted to go. It is a major shift for me. I was hoping not to make this move because I enjoy the role of Speaker, but I believe now the pressure is on us to do the right things. The 15th Assembly has some tough decisions to make. We have to find ways of ensuring that those decisions that we make, we make with all 19 Members here, not only from the government side, but also from the ordinary Members’ side. We always have to keep in mind the balance that I mentioned earlier in my statement. There has to be a balance to making sure that those decisions that we make, we look at them from both sides. Look at the pros and cons of what's good and what's bad, and exactly what's the best way of making these tough decisions without having a major impact on the programs and services that we do deliver, but also finding mechanisms of delivering these services in maybe a different manner, or maybe looking at exactly how the government structures have been in place for 20 years. Maybe it's time that we looked at governance in the Northwest Territories.