Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased and honoured to meet with the Sahtu leadership to discuss this issue further with their MLA and look at how we might work together on it.

Mr. Speaker, that issue has come up before and our government is currently looking at the workload. We have to keep an eye on our fiscal situation as well, and our capacity as a government, and also the workload that will be generated doesn’t warrant a separate office. That is being reviewed right now as we speak. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have an emergency statement. Mr. Speaker, since the House met yesterday, I have been provided with new information concerning the conduct of the Honourable Henry Zoe at the Royal Canadian Legion on the evening of May 15, 2004. I have been able to verify this information with those involved in the incident. In light of the new information this morning, I have relieved Mr. Zoe of his responsibilities as Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and as Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board.

Mr. Speaker, those of us who have the privilege as serving as a Member of...

Mr. Speaker, this is the first incident where I had an official or real complaint. Other than that, I have heard of incidents that have happened about various people, including Mr. Zoe. So this is one where I have met with him. I have followed up in my responsibility to let the Members know. I have followed up with the Legion who had issued the complaint to me. I have discussed this with Members and I have talked to Mr. Zoe. I am doing another letter to Cabinet to remind them that this is not tolerable. Mr. Zoe has indicated to me that he is going to take steps to make sure that this does not...

Mr. Speaker, when this incident we are talking about with Mr. Zoe came to my attention, I, within hours, sent a letter to all the Members to advise them of what had happened. I could have just talked to Mr. Zoe or written a note to him and dealt with it privately. I chose to apprise all of the Members because I thought it was serious. Mr. Speaker, I have also told the Members here that if there is an infraction of this and if Mr. Zoe doesn’t live up to his word or other Cabinet Ministers don’t live up to their word, then there is no toleration at all. In that case, I don’t have the authority...

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the action that I have taken and the action that Mr. Zoe has taken certainly indicates that we view this issue very, very seriously. I believe that what has been done to date not only upholds our ethical standards, but is also showing responsibility towards ourselves as Cabinet Ministers and as MLAs. I want to make it very clear that there will be absolutely no tolerance from here on, and I have said that to many of the Members. I have told Mr. Zoe, I have told all of Cabinet, that there will be no further acceptance of this. Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to get...

Mr. Speaker, if there was to be another incident like this I would deal with the incident, but I don’t think resigning is the way to deal with it. But absolutely, as I told you, I will deal with it.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve outlined some of the actions I have taken. I am doing another letter as a reminder to all of Cabinet that we cannot tolerate these kinds of incidents. So that will be going out today or tomorrow. I assure the Member that I do view this very seriously. We maintain high ethical standards within this House and certainly within Cabinet, and if there is another such incident then, as I have told many Members, that I will then make fairly strong recommendations to this House.

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind us that it is not me who makes that decision, it is the House that has...

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that these comments were made. I have tremendous respect for all people, no matter where they have come from who live and work in the Northwest Territories, and without any hesitation at all I can say that I apologize to anyone who may be offended by things that are said by individuals in Cabinet, or individuals anywhere. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, certainly we will be looking at this as time permits. Our statistics in terms of employment of people, whether its indigenous aboriginal persons or indigenous non-aboriginal persons, or disabled people, or women in management, are important to us, and we certainly want to have employment that reflects our population. So, yes, this will be looked at by the 15th Assembly. Thank you.