SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The vacant cabinet seat left by Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee, who resigned last week, will remain empty until the territorial election Oct. 3, leaving only one representative on cabinet from Yellowknife.

Lee stepped down as MLA, minister of Health and Social Services, and minister responsible for seniors and for the status of women, and will be running in the May 2 federal election as the Western Arctic's Conservative candidate.

The decision was made by caucus Thursday morning, which also cancelled the Territorial Leadership Committee meeting scheduled for the afternoon.

Wendy Bisaro, Frame Lake MLA and caucus chair, said with a territorial election coming in October, caucus decided it doesn't make sense to spend the money to fill the vacant seat.

"People generally agree that this late in the term, we didn't need to do it and that we really didn't want to spend the money," she said.

The cost of filling the seat includes paying for new letterhead, business cards and staff time required to bring ministers up to date on new portfolios, said Bisaro.

Other costs would include paying the new cabinet member a transition allowance for 12 months if he or she were not re-elected or they resign - a change that just came into place last month. There would also be the cost of conducting the session to choose a new minister.

"Filling the vacant cabinet seat and a potential cabinet shuffle were too great given the remaining life of this

legislative assembly," said Bisaro.

Although it saves money, the vacant seat leaves only one Yellowknife MLA on cabinet.

Kam Lake MLA David Ramsay said he is particularly concerned about the gap.

"I respect the decision, but I don't necessarily agree with it," he said, pointing out that keeping the seat open leaves Yellowknife on unequal footing with the rest of the territory.

"Mr. Bob McLeod does a good job of representing Yellowknife on cabinet, but he'll be the lone representative on that cabinet for Yellowknife," Ramsay said.

"Whoever it was (who would have been chosen to fill the seat), at least going forward there would have been a balance there."

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley said there does need to be equal Yellowknife representation on cabinet, but he supported the decision to leave the seat open anyway.

"It saves the disturbance that shifting portfolios, shuffling in cabinet portfolios would cause. There's a huge drain on bureaucracy, as well as

cabinet time whenever that's done."

The ministerial portfolios left vacant by Lee will be shared by the existing ministers. When Lee resigned, Premier Floyd Roland announced Michael Miltenberger, the finance and environment minister, would take over as the minister of Health and Social Services, and as minister responsible for seniors and for the status of women.

Roland didn't return calls by press time. A press release from the legislative assembly stated Roland will make an announcement in the coming days laying out how Lee's portfolios will be distributed for the remainder of the term.

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