Debates of March 9, 2017 (day 67)

All those abstaining, please stand.

Speaker: Mr. Schauerte

Mr. Nadli.

The results of the recorded vote are two in favour; 13 opposed; one abstention. The motion is defeated.

---Defeated

Mr. O’Reilly.

Committee Motion 93-18(2): Committee Report 7-18(2), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Review of the Members’ Conduct Guidelines – Revision of Legislative Assembly Oath of Office, Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to move that this Assembly recommend that the Legislative Assembly’s oath of office be revised in schedule B of the Legislative Assembly, an Executive Council Act, as follows:

“I (Member’s name) do swear or affirm that

a) I am fully qualified to hold the office of the Member for the district of, to which I have been elected;

b) I have not knowingly contravened the Elections and Plebiscites Act respecting any matter in relation to my election;

c) I will faithfully, to the best of my ability, perform the duties and responsibilities of my office, and will not allow any direct or indirect monetary or other personal or private interest to influence my conduct or affect my duties in public matters;

d) I hereby affirm, subscribe to, and agree to follow the Members’ Conduct Guidelines, or Members’ Code of Conduct, if applicable, adopted by the Legislative Assembly, in the case where the oath is sworn, so help me God."

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O’Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I know we have gone on a long time. I think that the important point that I would like to make, for those who are watching or listening, is that this change to the oath will provide a link to the other sorts of tools that we do have available to guide Members’ conduct, including the Elections Act, and the code that is the subject of the next motion. It is weaving together all of these pieces, and including those in the oath, and I hope and expect that all the Members will support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister McLeod, Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Robert C. McLeod

Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can’t support this motion. I see what the intent is, but I think it goes without saying that some of the discussion that is in here -- I was looking at the old Members’ Code of Conduct, the first one, and it should be the most important one that this Assembly can abide by, is hear the voices of our people. Sometimes, we cannot hear the voices of our people over our own talking. Then, the rest of it goes on, and you have all read the Members' Code of Conduct, and I think that it is one that I will continue to support, and some of the ones in the motion, it just goes without saying, none of us are -- I don't need to sign a Code of Conduct saying, well, yes, I am not going to do this because it is in the Code of Conduct.

I believe in the old Code of Conduct. To the public, I owe responsibility to work for the well-being of residents in the Northwest Territories makes no mention of that in there. I will respect and abide by the laws of Canada and the Northwest Territories, and I will not act in any ways which will violate these laws. I believe in the old Code of Conduct, and it goes to everything that is in the new one. I am not sure if the intent is to replace the old one with the new one, because I do not need this to tell me how to conduct myself. I think that is just your nature. I fully support the old conduct, especially to hear the voices of our people. It is something we should remember to do, and that why we are here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I came in. I expected that I would be able to support the final four motions, but then I hear there were references to, oh, we have to fix “old boys club,” "nudge, nudge, wink, wink," and there are references to not allowing direct or indirect monetary or other personal private interests, suggesting that there is something really wrong. So, in my view, the Code of Conduct and the Oath of Office before us worked fine for me, so I will not be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. I will remind everyone that the motion refers to the Oath of Office, which is separate from the Code of Conduct. To the motion. Mr. Testart.

Kieron Testart

Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not sure if my understanding of this is that it is a replacement of the Code of Conduct, but it is rather linking the Oath of Office to the Code of Conduct, so we are, as Members, after we swear our Oaths, we will be held accountable to the Code of Conduct. A great deal of discussion was had about how to give the Code of Conduct teeth, more or less actual, enforceable, and tangible results, and that was a discussion that we had in Caucus early on, and we all agreed was important, so the motion was more than aspirational, but actually had some impact on our behavior as Members of this House.

It has been said before; the fact that we are honourable Members of this House is not taken lightly, and we hold each other, and the public certainly holds us to a higher standard, and this ensures that the Code of Conduct we lay out for ourselves is not aspirational but, in fact, has direct, applicable results on our behaviour, and further, gives that Code of Conduct real consequences should it be violated. I do support this motion, and I think the committee came up with a very effective way to meet that objective. I respectfully disagree with the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. I think that this is an enhancement, and it does meet that objective of giving teeth to the Code of Conduct, which is something that we, as a Caucus, agreed to do. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Over to Mr. O'Reilly to conclude debate.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think there is just a bit of a misunderstanding here. I would urge Members, if they have got the report in front of them, if you can turn to page 9 of the report. You will see at the top of it, and I will just take a moment, Mr. Chair, to read.

What we are proposing here, what the committee proposed is replacing the current Oath of Office. The current Oath of Office is found at the top of page 9, and it is pretty short. I will just read it as follows -- we are not proposing changing the conduct guidelines themselves, although that is the subject of the next recommendation. The current oath which is what we are talking about replacing here, it reads as follows:

"I, Member's name, do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will duly and faithfully, and to the best of my skill and knowledge, execute the powers and trust proposed as a Member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly so help me God."

That is what is in the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. It is a requirement to assume offices and you have to swear this oath.

What the Committee has recommended is some additional items to add into the oath to tie together the conduct guidelines, the Code of Conduct. That is what this is really aimed at. We are not trying to sneak anything by anybody. It is about tying together the tools that we have available to us to ensure that the Code of Conduct, if we develop one, and I think that is the subject of the next recommendation. It is about tying these things together. I hope that all Members can support this. We are not trying to do anything here. This was actually adopted from Newfoundland and Labrador. This is the Oath of Office, essentially, that they used. What we did was adopt their Oath of Office. We are just simply replacing, or suggesting that the current oath be beefed up to reference the Code of Conduct, the Members' Conduct Guidelines. That is all it is. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I hope that everybody can support this. Thank you.

Recorded Vote

The Member has requested a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

Speaker: CLERK OF THE HOUSE

(Mr. Mercer): Mr. O'Reilly, Ms. Green, Ms. Cochrane, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Sebert, Mr. Vanthuyne, Mr. Testart, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Thompson, Mr. O'Reilly.

All those opposed, please stand.

Speaker: CLERK OF THE HOUSE

(Mr. Mercer): Mr. Nadli, Mr. Nakimayak, Mr. Moses, Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Schumann, and Mr. McNeely.

All those abstaining, please stand. The results of the recorded vote are nine in favour; seven opposed; zero abstentions. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. O'Reilly.

Committee Motion 94-18(2): Committee Report 7-18(2), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Review of the Members’ Conduct Guidelines – Members’ Conduct Guidelines as Basis for New Members’ Code of Conduct, Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Members' Conduct Guidelines serve as the basis for a new Members' Code of Conduct including more specific and enforceable provisions; and further, that the new code be presented to the Assembly for consideration and adoption. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly. We have less than two minutes.

Recorded Vote

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion. Question has been called. The Member has requested a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

Speaker: CLERK OF THE HOUSE

(Mr. Mercer): Mr. O'Reilly, Ms. Green, Mr. Nakimayak, Mr. Moses, Ms. Cochrane, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Schumann, Mr. Sebert, Mr. McNeely, Mr. Vanthuyne, Mr. Testart, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Thompson.

All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand. The results of the recorded vote are 15 in favour; zero opposed; zero abstention. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Noting the time, I will now rise and report progress.

Report of Committee of the Whole