NWT - The GNWT is planning to amend its Conflict of Interest Act to deal with a concern raised by Hay River town council.

Mike Maher: Hay River deputy mayor is happy GNWT plans to amend Conflict of Interest Act. - NNSL file photo

In essence, the amendment will allow GNWT employees to serve on town councils without automatically being in conflict on issues involving the territorial government.

In the last couple of months, four Hay River town councillors, who are also GNWT employees, reluctantly declared conflict of interest for votes on a land sale to the territorial government.

The councillors followed legal advice, even though they did not feel they were in conflict. Deputy Mayor Mike Maher said he might resign from council if the town's politicians could not deal with issues relating to the GNWT.

The territorial government is now moving to deal with the situation.

"We're on it," said Mike Reddy, a senior policy analyst with the Department of Justice. "We know it's an issue."

Reddy said the goal is to introduce an amendment to the legislation as soon as possible, subject to cabinet approval.

There is no timeline for that to happen, but it could be a matter of weeks, he said.

The Conflict of Interest Act was passed in 1974, but its impact on GNWT employees sitting on municipal councils apparently never became an issue before, according to Reddy.

"To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time this issue has arisen," he said.

The act states councillors with "indirect pecuniary (financial) interest" would be in a conflict of interest.

Reddy said, from the GNWT's perspective, pecuniary interest could be interpreted as simply receiving a paycheque from the government.

An amendment to the act would remove the notion that simply being a GNWT employee would put councillors in conflict on territorial government issues.

"They won't automatically be considered in conflict of interest," Reddy said.

However, if a councillor is believed to be in conflict, he or she can be taken to court under the Conflict of Interest Act. If found in conflict, a councillor's seat could be ordered vacated, and he or she could be fined $5,000 and ruled ineligible to sit on council for five years.

The amendment would not prevent a councillor from voting on a matter involving the territorial department for which he or she works.

Reddy said the act's current wording could "absolutely" creates problems for municipal governments in the NWT.

Maher, one of the council members who declared a conflict of interest over the recent land sale, is "definitely" happy a legislative amendment is on the way.

"I'm very impressed with how quickly they're dealing with this," he said.

He said the issue affects many communities.

"I think we lose our effectiveness if we're not allowed to talk about a (territorial) government issue," said Maher, a business development officer with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Hay River council members O'Brien, Andrew Cassidy and Ken Latour are also GNWT employees.

In declaring a conflict on the land sale issue, they were following two legal opinions obtained by the town and advice from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).

Hay River Mayor Kelly Schofield said he is proud of council for finding the issue and bringing it to the attention of the GNWT.

Schofield said Hay River council noticed the problem because, after being elected last year, members educated themselves on the act with help from MACA.

"We were diligent and MACA helped us to be diligent," he said.

Schofield doesn't think the issue would have actually caused councillors to resign, but he said they were frustrated.