Debates of October 19, 2006 (day 11)

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.

Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Pokiak, Mr. Villeneuve, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Menicoche, Ms. Lee, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Braden, Mr. McLeod, Mr. Hawkins, Mrs. Groenewegen.

All those opposed to the motion, please stand.

Mr. Miltenberger; Mr. Krutko; Mr. Roland; Mr. Handley; Mr. Dent; Mr. McLeod, Deh Cho; Mr. Bell.

All those abstaining from the motion? To the results of the vote: 11 for, seven against, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.

---Carried