Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 21/01) - The touchy issue of the NWT's electoral boundaries is about to resurface.

The committee of MLAs charged with advising the legislative assembly on what changes, if any, need to be made electoral boundaries is about to acquire a higher profile.

Co-chair Sandy Lee, MLA for Range Lake, said Monday the "i's are being dotted and t's crossed" on pamphlets and advertisements aimed at informing the public about the issue.

Community consultation will take place from November through mid-December. Similar to the consultations on the proposed, and controversial, hotel tax and highway toll, the committee is leaving it up to individual communities to decide whether a public meeting with the committee is necessary.

"I think it's safe to say that we're ready to do as much (consultation) as people want," said Lee.

Committee members laid what they hope is a good foundation for discussions with the communities at summer assemblies.

The law that introduced the electoral boundaries of a post-division NWT, and an assembly with three more Yellowknife seats and one each more for Hay River and Inuvik, was established by the last government.

The law was passed only after a citizens group, Friends of Democracy, successfully challenged the government's decision to ignore the recommendations of a report it had commissioned on electoral boundaries.

In begrudgingly establishing the new electoral boundaries, the government attached an expiry date -- a "sunset clause" -- to the new law.

If no new electoral law is introduced to replace it, there will be no electoral boundaries for the next election in 2003.