Beaulieu angered by Yellowknife MLAs
Says expressed support for Premier McLeod kept him off cabinet
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, December 21, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh MLA thinks smaller NWT communities will suffer because they are not represented in the cabinet of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
Tom Beaulieu, former transportation minister, lost his bid for a cabinet post on Dec. 16 to newcomers Hay River South MLA Wally Schumann and Louis Sebert of Thebacha.
In the 17th assembly, Beaulieu and Michael Miltenberger were the two ministers from the southern part of the territory. Now that he's out, he said only four communities - Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River and Inuvik - are now represented in cabinet.
He pointed out these are the territory's urban centres.
"It's a problem because we now have 29 small, mostly aboriginal communities with low employment rates - the most underprivileged group that we have in the NWT - (with) no representation on cabinet," Beaulieu said.
"New (MLAs) coming in don't have a real handle on the issues across the territory, especially, the ones from Yellowknife, and I believe Yellowknife didn't want me on cabinet and they got their way."
Beaulieu said the fact he had asked people to vote for Bob McLeod (for premier) worked against his run to get back on cabinet.
Yellowknife South MLA Bob McLeod was selected to an unprecedented second term as premier on Dec. 16 in a secret ballot by MLAs in the legislative assembly against lone challenger Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy.
Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Alfred Moses, Inuvik Twin Lakes MLA Robert C. McLeod, Thebacha MLA Louis Sebert, Hay River South MLA Wally Schumann and Yellowknife's Glen Abernethy Caroline Johnson make up the new executive council.
The premier has yet to announce portfolios but is expected to before Christmas.
"When it came time to vote for cabinet, they didn't look at the big picture," Beaulieu said.
"They looked at their own feelings about how they felt about somebody regardless of my record and the work I've done for small communities. They felt it was more important to get me out of there."
On Dec. 18, after two weeks of deliberation, caucus chairperson Julie Green and deputy-caucus chair Kevin O'Reilly held a news conference laying out the five main priorities for the 18th legislative assembly.
They are cost of living, education training and youth development, community wellness and safety, the economy, environment and climate change and improving government accountability, transparency and collaboration.
"The executive council (cabinet) is going to take the priorities and draft a more detailed four-year plan. It will talk about how we are going to achieve these priorities as well how we are going to pay for them," Green said.
"When the four-year plan is ready, which we anticipate will be in time for the February session ... the plan will be introduced in the house debate and voted on. It will be reviewed in two years ... along with the performance of cabinet in achieving the mandate."
Green admitted an Ontario company was paid to survey all MLAs with a 28-question online questionnaire to help formulate the priority list. She said the contract was less than $2,000.
Under community wellness and safety, MLAs are calling for addiction services to be delivered locally but that doesn't necessarily mean MLAs are ready to resurrect the idea of a Northern treatment facility.
"We're going to have to see what cabinet comes back with in terms of how it can be done and how much money it's going to cost. We can't make the commitment," Green said. "I don't think that having a chronic alcoholic who is 65 and a 17-year-old girl in the same facility is a good idea."
Among the priorities under community wellness and safety, the government stated that it wants to take action on the crisis of family and community violence. Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli did not list domestic violence as one of his top priorities when members laid out their agendas in the assembly on Dec 14.
Nadli was re-elected after being convicted earlier this year of assault causing bodily harm on his spouse. He did use the session to address the issue. "I acknowledge that I had an incident that caused pain and hurt to my family. I have taken full responsibility for my actions. I make a mistake. I was wrong," Nadli said.
Transparency was a top issue during the election and as a result, News/North e-mailed each MLA to ask whether they would be willing to disclose their cabinet and premier picks. While the voting process is secret, there are no rules prohibiting any MLA from sharing their choices.
While nobody answered News/North's e-mail, four have revealed who they voted for via social media and in person - Kevin O'Reilly, Kam Lake's Kieron Testart and Yellowknife North's Cory Vanthuyne voted for Abernethy and Beaulieu said he chose McLeod.
Two MLAs said they would not reveal their vote and the rest failed to respond to the question as of press time. Green was one of the MLAs who refused to divulge her choice.
"I'm not going to be able to help you with that," Green said.
New Sahtu MLA Danny McNeely also confirmed he would keep his ballot secret.
"I think it's going to disrupt the morale and the working relationship with everybody in the legislative assembly building," McNeely said.
"We just roll up our sleeves and go to work and move on to the mandate and priorities set by this government."
