Debates of October 19, 2006 (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS pursuant to section 61(1) of the Legislative and Executive Council Act, the Legislative Assembly recommends to the Commissioner the appointment of Members of the Executive Council;

AND WHEREAS pursuant to section 61(2) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, the persons appointed hold office during the pleasure of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the Assembly, pursuant to these powers, has selected the Honourable J. Michael Miltenberger to sit as a Member of the Executive Council;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nunakput, that this Assembly formally revoke the pleasure of the Assembly from the appointment of the Honourable J. Michael Miltenberger as a Member of the Executive Council;

AND FURTHER, that this Assembly recommend that a new Member be chosen to be a Member of the Executive Council.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am moving this motion today as a result of what took place in this House yesterday and I believe I have the right as a Member to speak my mind and to stand up for the constituents I represent. I feel very strongly that yesterday I was threatened and intimidated in this House. I don’t believe that that should be condoned or tolerated in any way, shape or form. The Government of the Northwest Territories has a zero tolerance policy in place for workforce harassment or workforce intimidation and we should practice what we preach and we should lead by example in that, Mr. Speaker.

This is obviously not an easy issue to deal with. Again, I want to thank those who have stood up here courageously today in an effort to help me push this issue forward. I look forward to hearing what other Members have to say on the issue. I look forward to that. Once again, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am in support of the motion. Based on what happened in the session yesterday, I think it’s really important that we be accountable to what we do in the House here, especially when you are…(inaudible)…on personal families and friends. It shouldn’t be tolerated in an Assembly like this. I think we all agree that things like this shouldn’t happen in our House. I was very disappointed, like I said, yesterday in terms of what happened in this House. So I will support the motion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. To the motion. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say a few words on behalf of Cabinet on this matter.

Mr. Speaker, the work of Members of this Legislative Assembly is difficult. Often discussions become heated in this House and sometimes words are said that shouldn’t be said. Clearly, the remarks made by the Minster were inappropriate. However, the Minister has withdrawn his comments and apologized without reservation for his comments and has asked Mr. Ramsay in this House to accept his apology.

I hope the House can accept Mr. Miltenberger’s apology and look beyond this issue to the hard work he does as Minister and as a Member of this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. I will allow the honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this is a very difficult time for us as a Legislature. We have all 11 Members from this side that stood up this morning on another occasion where we had a chance to express our views on this. I stand by the statements I made. I believe that the privilege as a Member here comes with a lot of different aspects to that, one of them being our need and right to feel free from any kind of intimidation and limitation. So this is such a very difficult issue. I do accept the Minister’s apology. I do believe he is very sincere in his apology. I think he stood up and took his words yesterday when probably he didn’t have to. He didn’t have to speak, but he did and he owned up to his responsibility yesterday.

I am still reserving my opinion on this. I think this is a very serious issue. This calls into question the confidence the Members have in the Minister and Cabinet as a whole. Although I would have liked to have had some more time to think about the appropriate measure of consequence should be on this. I do believe that we can stand on principles and eliminate all Ministers who make mistakes. I still can’t understand why the Minister did what he did yesterday. I think it was a heat of the moment thing where he responded. I don’t know what happened. It really is something that is very severe. At this point, I am just not sure what the consequences of his actions should be and whether or not it is the removal of him from this Cabinet office. I would encourage all the Members here to speak and see if we can come up with a right way to resolve this, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand in support of the motion by Mr. Ramsay. The basis of this is very much as I spoke earlier today, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that there is a standard of decorum and respect for those who are closest to us as we undertake our work and that this is a move, as regrettable as it is, that I feel compelled to support, not only as I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, for the people in this Chamber but for everyone who takes on the mantle of public service. Along with that goes the concerns, and the reputations, and the feelings, and the consciences of the people who are closest to us, our families.

So that is why I believe this is a regrettable but necessary step for this Chamber to send a message out to restore a level of trust and confidence and respect that an institution like this deserves and we have a duty to protect, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise in support of the motion that’s before us to be deliberated. I have given it great thought about the actions that occurred yesterday and Mr. Miltenberger is a great colleague and has done many, many years of service for us here and done well this term. However, it’s always the principles as Members that are key and the ability to speak freely and not be threatened. It may have been done in a moment of haste and quickly; however, the act was done, Mr. Speaker. That cannot be tolerated because it is also a reflection upon me and my values if I continue to tolerate as slight as that. How much further do we go? Colleagues on this side always say slippery slope. How far down do we slide by allowing actions with such significance to us as Members and to this Legislature as an institution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, stand in support of the motion. It’s a difficult situation to be in, but I look at things as whether they are right or wrong. I don’t say they are wrong because we have a year left, they are wrong because of this or that. I believe what happened yesterday was wrong. We are accountable to the people who put us in here, the people we represent, like Cabinet is, but Cabinet is also responsible to Members on this side of the House and it’s a very difficult situation that I find myself in, but there are times when this is not going to be an easy job to do. As much as we all get along in here and I have respect for everyone in here, I would be doing a disservice to my colleagues, to the people I represent, and to my principles and integrity, if I didn’t support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the motion. I think this is an extremely unfortunate circumstance we find ourselves in today. However, as I said in an earlier presentation today, I think we have to uphold a high standard and I will also say that nobody who is elected to the Assembly has a God given or superior right to sit in that Cabinet. This is a choice that is made. It is a responsibility bestowed, it is an honour placed on Members who are equals to oversee departments and responsibilities on our behalf and there is no dishonour on sitting on this side of the House and doing your job well. It’s not the end of the world and, like I said, nobody has the God given right. I think every Cabinet Minister over there should take note of this today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I spoke earlier on this issue and am waiting for some feedback from the leadership in the Sahtu region in terms of deciding on a vote here,. I am going to be in the same shoes as my colleague from Range Lake when it comes to a position. It’s on the principle of integrity for the House and I am going to leave it at that. This type of issue brings back a lot of other issues we’ve dealt with previously. I am going to decide when you call for a vote.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since my election last year, I wasn’t expecting to be standing here and facing the difficult position we are. At the same time, what happened yesterday, we can’t just sweep it under the carpet. We have all seen it and it’s unfortunate. I, too, have high respect for Mr. Miltenberger. He’s been praised in my community. He went to school in our community as well. At the same time, we are accountable for what we do here as a government. We must speak freely as Members of the Legislative Assembly. We cannot be threatened. We are the ones who put them there, Mr. Speaker. We voted them in. We had high respect for them to take on the role as Cabinet Minister and work with us. It’s a sad day for us to be here faced with this, but I must say it’s also, like my colleagues have stated, it’s a principle of integrity. We are accountable. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to reiterate all of what other Members have spoken about. I am sure the message is clear that this side of the House is pretty unified in support of this motion. I will reserve my judgment for when it’s time to vote anyway. That’s not to say that I, in any form or fashion, condone the behaviour that was displayed in the House yesterday. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t take more time to discuss this issue, some possible options for ramifications for something like that. It’s unfortunate that we have to call for measures this extreme, especially this late in the game. Again, it comes down to the principle of the matter, Mr. Speaker. We all have to uphold a common principle of trust and respect in this House. That’s the bottom line. It has nothing to do with personalities, friendships or working relationships. It all comes down to the integrity that we all try to uphold and upkeep in this House, that we ensure that we do treat each other and our constituents from all over the NWT with the utmost respect and due diligence to making sure we are serving them to the best of our ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. To the motion. I will allow Mr. Ramsay to wrap up the discussion on the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the motion once again. Again, it’s a very unfortunate situation that I find myself in. I have been in politics for 10 years, close to 10 years. This is one of the toughest things I have had to do. But in those years as a politician, if you go with what you believe is right and what your heart tells you to do, you can’t go wrong and I know the difference between right and wrong. No matter if it was any one of the Cabinet Ministers that said something about, yesterday it happened to be my wife and my brother, if they said anything to any one of my other colleagues, I would do the exact same thing. I would bring a motion forward to remove you from Cabinet. To me, it’s black and white. It’s simple. Some Members are questioning that maybe we need more time, maybe the consequences are too severe. They aren’t too severe.

One of my colleagues asked how far do we lower the bar. What are we going to allow to happen here? We have to hold this place at its highest level of integrity and we have to treat each other with integrity and respect. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I didn’t get that respect nor that integrity.

I have a good relationship with Mr. Miltenberger. I value the work that he’s provided to this territory over the years and I know he’s done a tremendous amount of work. His work ethic is not the question, absolutely not the question. The question is his respect and what took place here. Mr. Speaker, it just should not be allowed to happen. It’s a very unfortunate situation we find ourselves in, but whether there were two weeks left or a year left, that doesn’t matter either. What matters is yesterday the remarks that Mr. Miltenberger made to me crossed the line. That is why the motion is here. The government that that type of attitude and behaviour is just not going to be tolerated. I haven’t had an opportunity to go back to my constituents and ask them what they think. I am standing up here today doing what I believe is the right thing to do and the honourable thing to do.

With that, Mr. Speaker, once again, I appreciate the Minister’s apology from earlier today but I wanted to thank my colleagues on this side of the House for the courage and conviction they showed here today to stand beside me and say we are not going to accept that type of behaviour in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to ask the Premier to allow Cabinet to have a free vote on this issue and as well as a recorded vote on the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.