Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 01/02) - Maybe the French had it right all along: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

At least, they seemed to have a good way to describe the legislative assembly, where a festering wound won't heal.

How they voted For: Floyd Roland, Brendan Bell, Paul Delorey, Charles Dent, David Krutko, Leon Lafferty and Steve Nitah Against: Stephen Kakfwi, Sandy Lee, Bill Braden, Jane Groenewegen, Michael McLeod, Vince Steen, Michael Miltenberger, Jim Antoine, Joe Handley, Roger Allen, Jake Ootes. Excluded: Speaker Tony Whitford

And despite efforts by some MLAs to amputate the offending member -- and then to fall on their own swords -- the legislature will carry on like before.

On Wednesday, efforts by seven MLAs to call an early election were stymied in an 11-7 vote by cabinet and four other MLAs, many of whom vocally supported maintaining the status quo in the name of 'getting things done.'

The political appetite for change just isn't that strong, despite unanimous support in the legislature for a damning auditor general's report that found the GNWT overpaid $256,000 in severance packages to two former employees, Lynda Sorensen and John Bayly.

"I, as minister, have a very aggressive agenda of things I am trying to accomplish ... that I do not want to jeopardize in the last year because we have made a hasty decision," said Health and Social Services Minister Michael Miltenberger.

"I am ready to answer to the people and I will answer to the people and I will answer on the date that this assembly decided on ... which was Nov. 24 (2003)."

But supporters of the motion to dissolve the assembly said it was about maintaining the ethical integrity of the government.

"This is not about where you fall short as a person," said Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland.

"It is about the rules that we have to follow and are set out before us."

Those rules are needed to instill confidence, both in the electorate and bureaucrats, said Tu Nedhe MLA Steve Nitah.

"I believe ... 90 per cent (of GNWT workers) do not have the confidence in the government that they work for," he said.

Ultimately, Roland voted on the losing side, accompanied by MLAs Brendan Bell, Paul Delorey, Charles Dent, David Krutko, Leon Lafferty and Steve Nitah.

Debate in the legislature has been strident in the past few days -- so much so that some members even questioned the form of government in the NWT.

MLAs are elected to a consensus government, which chooses a cabinet from among its ranks.

But since the number of people outside of cabinet exceeds the number of ministers, the government functions as a perpetual minority government, where confidence votes happen with regularity.

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee led the charge.

Although she said she is not calling for party politics, she did clearly lay out the advantages of that system.

"God knows that there are a lot of problems with party politics," she said.

"But one thing that is good about party politics ... is that whoever gets into a party, they can govern."

Although other MLAs were quick to point out the failure of this government to form a functional consensus, they pounced on suggestions of moving to a party system.

Consensus government gives a much more important role to members outside of cabinet, and regular MLAs were quick to defend it.

Great Slave MLA Bill Braden lived in the Yukon when that territory switched to parties in the 1970s.

"I found it to be a divisive and a polarizing influence on what was already quite a small and ... multi-layered Northern society," he said. "I think we must take some steps to avoid going down that path."

Although cabinet is proposing a policy overhaul to make it more difficult for overpayments to happen again, Brendan Bell said nothing will change after the failure of motions this week to unseat the premier and call an early election.

"We'll go on just as we always have, and for that I apologize to my constituents, and indeed, to all residents of the NWT. I'm truly sorry," he said.