Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we were all sworn in, we did pledge an oath of office. We all have to abide by that. We all have to abide by the rules of the House. Everybody has a right to critique, to criticize, to comment on Ministers, on the Premier, on performance. I think the public expects no less. Mr. Speaker, I need more information about is somebody putting pressure on someone. I don’t know. Of course, the public always has the right to make their comments to each of us too, and we have to respect that. Mr. Speaker, I want to think about how we would convey this kind of message...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the public expects that we are going to be fair to everybody as a government, that we all have equal rights in this Legislative Assembly. From the day I first let my name stand as Premier, I made it clear that that is the way that I was going to operate. I don’t have the exact wording of my statement in this House following my appointment as Premier, but I operate that way. We have talked about it in Cabinet. Certainly, from our side, there will be no tolerance of intimidation of Members, and I expect the same is true for everybody in this House. Thank you...

Mr. Speaker, I think things have changed a lot since the old days that Mrs. Groenewegen refers to because we do not do business that way. It’s a very well laid out process and there is fairness to everyone. There will be and has been, to my knowledge, no reprisals from our government and we will police that very carefully if we ever hear anybody starting to make those kinds of threats or whatever, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our obligation as a government is to provide fair, equitable service to everybody regardless of where they live and regardless of what their MLA may have said or not said...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t repeat exactly what I said. My message is that we all have signed an oath. We all have responsibilities. We all know what the rules of the House are or know where to find the rules if we are unsure, and we all operate with respect, but we all have the right to criticize positions taken by one another. Certainly Members have a right to comment on Cabinet’s performance, whether it is individual Ministers, the Cabinet as a group or the Premier or whatever. That is all part of the democratic process. Mr. Speaker, we respect that. If we violate that, then we...

Mr. Speaker, I want to think about how we would do it, the best way of doing it. Certainly, in letters to Ministers, that has happened. If the Members feel there is a need to come out with some kind of public statement, then, yes, I will take that into consideration. I am not sure what would be the best way of doing that, but, as I say, Mr. Speaker, I expect that the public believes that we operate fairly in this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm for the Minister that there is no special privilege given to a Minister’s constituency over that of someone else. Some may disagree with that sometimes, I don’t know. But, Mr. Speaker, I can say that in my experience in fact it has been a disadvantage to be on Cabinet because sometimes you can’t represent your constituency the way you would like to because it conflicts with your role as Cabinet Minister.

Mr. Speaker, on things like capital plans and so on, we review those, we go through them with the committees, we welcome and are waiting for committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform this Assembly of the following change to portfolio assignments effective 5:00 p.m. today. I will assume responsibility for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

The Honourable Floyd Roland will retain responsibility for the Department of Health and Social Services.

The Honourable Charles Dent will become Minister of Human Resources and Minister responsible for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities.

The Honourable Brendan Bell will lead our efforts to deal with the issue of homelessness in the Northwest Territories.

The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say I appreciate the statements by all of the Members on this most important topic and I appreciate the concern you express and I express the same kind of concern. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that I have spent more time on this issue with the federal government and with aboriginal leaders than any other issue. I feel it is the most important issue we, as a government, have to deal with. Now, I can’t give assurance we’ll achieve a deal. I don’t know. But, Mr. Speaker, I’m going to do everything in my power to get us there if I can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, for the Member's information, Peter Lougheed, former Premier of Alberta, has and continues to work with us on a number of files, primarily on the hydro file but he's also worked with us in other areas in terms of relationship with the federal government, and I'll continue with him.

In terms of other people, if there's suggestions, I'd like to consider this further. But definitely, if there is somebody out there who can help us move this ahead in a big way, then, yes, I'm in favour of making an investment in that person's time and reputation. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had those discussions with not all the leaders, but some of the leaders. They have asked that I wait until they have a meeting of the leaders of the summit, which is scheduled for November 9th. I told them I would. At that meeting they want to iron out some issues amongst themselves first. But if, for some reason, that isn’t ironed out, then I think we have to call a meeting in any case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.