WHEREAS Parliament is currently considering Bill C-15, the Northwest Territories Devolution Act, which includes a new Northwest Territories Act that would extend the maximum term of office of future NWT Legislative Assemblies from four to five years;
AND WHEREAS the Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and Yukon already have five-year maximum terms of office as a result of past changes to federal legislation;
AND WHEREAS the next NWT general election is currently scheduled for October 5, 2015, in the same month as the next federal general election and municipal elections in several NWT communities;
AND WHEREAS overlapping elections create significant communications and administrative concerns as well as the possibility of lower voter participation rates;
AND WHEREAS some provinces with elections scheduled for the fall of 2015 have extended their terms in order to avoid overlap in election periods, or are considering doing so in the near future;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that this Legislative Assembly requests that the Government of Canada propose to Parliament an amendment to the Northwest Territories Act that would authorize this current 17th Legislative Assembly to extend its term to a period not exceeding five years;
AND FURTHER, that the Premier communicate this request to the Prime Minister;
AND FURTHERMORE, that should federal legislation be enacted as requested, the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly propose a bill at the earliest opportunity to defer the next NWT election to October 2016.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I gave notice of this motion last week and since then most Members have had a chance to return to their constituencies and have had an opportunity to also receive input and communication from constituents on this matter. There have been many suggestions and ideas proposed.
In reviewing the motion this morning, we realized that one of the issues that this motion speaks very definitively to is the last furthermore where it talks about a bill that defers the next NWT election to October 2015. That is a very definitive date and it would take it to the maximum of one year and we did hear from constituents who wondered why to avoid the overlap why it couldn’t be three months or one month or six months or different ideas. So in hearing that and in response to that, I would like to move a motion to the amendment that we could discuss and debate prior to the motion being decided on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the amendment to the motion. Mrs. Groenewegen.
