Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is, in all honesty, a very exciting motion. Rarely do we see the engagement of Members and certainly the public into a type of motion like this. It has drawn the public into the business of the Assembly. It has drawn Members into the business certainly of the Assembly. You see this type of discussion here where people are talking about the issue before us. If we could only give every single issue this Assembly dealt with this much attention, can you imagine the public belief in our system at large?
I will say with great respect, and I certainly mean this, I want to thank Member Groenewegen and certainly Member Miltenberger for bringing this motion forth before us here today. Because if it wasn’t for this type of society we have here and the type of work we do here, we wouldn’t be able to have this type of discussion. Many have spoken for it, many have spoken against it, but it’s a privilege to be able to speak one way or the other. I’m grateful that I’ve heard the voices and seen the motion moved.
I wish, as I said, everything could be talked about at length and certainly discussed and seen as we’ve seen this issue here today. But the motion we’re talking about before us stems from a particular problem of the overlap of multi-elections. We’ve heard the potential of logistics being cumbersome, coordination being challenging, volunteers being exhausted, donor fatigue all the way through, and certainly voter fatigue is a potential problem. Every single one of those issues is a very serious concern and we need to be weighing to ourselves in some way or manner, in going this route is it best to change the date or do we create more problems?
I’ve received various feedback from people and I want to say thank you very much for people who took the time to e-mail, to call, to stop me at the Co-op, to continue to stop me at the Co-op, I go down the next aisle to be stopped again at the Co-op – I think you’re getting the picture – and going to Canadian Tire and on and on and on. I’m not going to say 90 percent or 80 percent or whatever the case may be, I’m going to say there were people who said no, and honestly, there were people saying yes to the motion. There were. It doesn’t matter, really, at the end of the day what small percentage we talk to says this, but what we should be listening to is their message why people say this – support the motion, that is – and why people say don’t support the motion. That is the important key.
One thing that I heard repeatedly that I think is so important about this whole particular issue – and I say this with an enormous amount of respect to Minister Miltenberger, whose perspective I’m not sure I can share – but I will say I will thank him for sharing his perspective. The issue that came to me repeatedly was, where are the rest of the voices in Cabinet? The public has heard vigorously from most Members, not all, and I would say we have such a privileged opportunity and institution. We have the right when we want to share a voice and we also have the privilege and right not to share a voice, and I want to thank those who took the time to share their perspective.
But the public asked me, would the Ministers be speaking on this? Is it a whip vote? And if it is a whip vote, I’m okay with that. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. But I think the public deserves to know who’s voting in favour or against it, Mr. Speaker. I think that was one of the big concerns laid before me.
Now, you’ve heard from many people that voters will be confused. I’m not sure that will be the case. Now, I’ve had to face voters a few times and I’m going to tell you, the number one thing, I think they’re going to be exhausted by all means. I don’t think they’ll be conflicted by who they’re voting for, but sometimes that is the job of an MLA, knocking on doors. I can tell you, many times I knocked on a door for a territorial election and they start bringing up the roads and the dog issue and the dump issue. But sometimes that’s the job of a public official to hear those types of things. Although it’s not by department per se, but, sure, I’ll make sure the message gets passed on.
So I agree with the point of the fatigue, I do, and I agree that there will probably be donor and voter fatigue, and logistics fatigue, and volunteer fatigue, absolutely. Every single one of those issues I absolutely agree with. But I don’t think that taking people’s rights to be able to vote on that day away is the right approach.
I agree with other Members, like Member Dolynny talking about it’s a contract, and I have great faith in the public who wanted us to stick by that contract and I have great faith that our public is educated to follow us.
If we wanted to talk about confusing elections, which is not necessarily this motion per se, but I could imagine the super-ballots of the Americans when they vote on multiple issues, could we vote multiple times in one day or within a couple days? I mean, I’ve never had that privilege nor do I want it, but I can tell you, that’s got to be a confusing election, so would we have a confusing election here? I’m not necessarily sure.
Mr. Speaker, again, I have faith in the public and I would say that if I had my preference, we would be calling the election on August 1st and having our election first because we’re more important than the feds in worrying about their election. But that’s not the option before us and perhaps in some cases – we have so many options on the table – the public still would like us to further discuss this. I know this issue will be back. Let us all know that. By passing this motion, we will be back to it someday for the legislation.
So, I do have great respect for those who feel this motion needs to be supported and I do honourably respect that. I believe that the intentions of the people supporting this motion are honourable. I will say that, because I know many of the people doing the work here are honourable. But it’s important that I stick to what I agreed to and I know those, whether they voted for me or against me, believe there was a four-year control, 48 months, and of course, October 2015 will be the expiry of that.
I will ask for a recorded vote on this because I think it’s important that we do this. But I would like to ask this one last thing, and it’s important to say this: I often rail about this government about my view that they’re not doing enough for things like jobs and whatnot. But I will say this: there’s nothing wrong with this government that could not be fixed with an election. Thank you.
Question has been called. I have a request for a recorded vote. All those in favour, please rise.
Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Blake, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes.
All those opposed, please rise.
Mr. Dolynny, Mr. Bouchard, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Moses, Mr. Bromley.
All those abstaining, please rise. All those in favour: 11; seven opposed. The motion is amended as carried.
---Carried
