Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Apr 23/99) - Premier and Nahendeh MLA Jim Antoine may not be facing a territorial election as soon as Oct. 4.

Antoine told close to 20 people at a constituency meeting in Fort Simpson on Thursday evening that a legislative standing committee has been formed to decide the contentious issue of the number of ridings in the Western territory.

They have been given 120 days to complete the task, and if they use the full amount of time it would push a territorial election back as late as March, 2000, he said.

The standing committee comprises regular members of the legislature. They have a proposal in front of them of adding five extra MLA seats to the current 14. Three would go to Yellowknife, one to Hay River and one to Inuvik.

Antoine said that proposal would come closest to complying with Justice Mark de Weerdt's ruling that each riding must have a populous within 25 per cent of every other riding. However, the committee may choose to alter the proposal in some fashion, he added.

"There's a lot of discussion going on trying to find a political solution right now," he said.

Before opening the floor to questions, Antoine brought up the issue of territorial control over resources. He reiterated that he believes the NWT must gain the right to at least a fair share of the royalties and taxes that the federal government is currently clutching.

When constituents were invited to ask questions, Mayor Norm Prevost said he has been approached by frustrated residents of Four Mile who haven't been able to obtain a phone line. They only received power service a few years ago, Prevost said, and now they've been told they can't have phones in their homes.

Antoine said that matter isn't a new one. He said he couldn't speak for NorthwesTel, which is responsible for installing the phone lines, but he did say the residents of Four Mile are entitled to phone service and he would approach the phone company.

The potential for the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension also came up. One constituent suggested that a private toll road would likely be most profitable.

Antoine responded, "Toll road? I don't know. I think you'd need lots of traffic to pay for it."

Prevost asked if it would be possible to have the land-use and water permits in place before the highway project is given official authorization to avoid a two-year waiting period. Antoine said some of the preliminary work had been done through previous interest in extending the highway.

"We would know what it would take to build the road if it gets the funding," he said.