Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 07/98) - The legislative assembly's Management and Services Board (MSB) has won a victory over MLA Jane Groenewegen and Conflict of Interest Commissioner Anne Crawford -- sort of.

In a decision released Friday, NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes said the board was correct that Crawford did not have the legal authority to order publicly- funded legal counsel for anyone other than herself.

Groenewegen had taken the MSB's chair, Speaker Sam Gargan, to court last month after the board had denied her request for a publicly-funded lawyer as she pursues her conflict of interest complaint against Premier Don Morin.

However, it appears the judge has put the board -- made up of Gargan, Health Minister Kelvin Ng and MLAs Floyd Roland, Vince Steen and Kevin O'Brien -- on notice that their decision is, at best, a shaky one.

"The fact that the legislature has delegated so much discretion and responsibility to the commissioner suggests to me that it wanted to repose a significant degree of autonomy on the commissioner," he wrote. "Therefore, I think the public might be quite sceptical as to any perceived attempt to limit or second-guess the commissioner in the performance of her duties."

Other parts of the judgement are equally blunt.

"A common sense of fairness may tell us that if one member of the legislature is provided with funds for his counsel then perhaps another member should be too. But that does not equate to a legal obligation."

The board has agreed to pay the premier's legal expenses due to the inquiry while denying Groenewegen's.

Vertes even went so far as to issue a declaration -- with which Crawford said she will follow through when interviewed Friday -- that the commissioner has the authority to make a recommendation that the board provide funding for lawyers for those before the upcoming inquiry.

Vertes noted the decision is then the board's, again, to make. However, he noted the following earlier in the judgement:

"It seems to me that the dignity and integrity of the legislature require no less than good and compelling reasons to refuse a request ..."

While MSB deliberations are secret, Vertes reminded the board that the courts, not the MLAs, have the authority to decide what are, or are not, aspects of parliamentary privilege.

"It just seems to me that there is no clearly discernible principle that would elevate the case-by-case decision to fund legal counsel to the lofty level of privilege," he wrote.

Crawford said she would follow the court's advice.

"The office is very dependent on the public's vision of its effectiveness," she said from Iqaluit. "This (Vertes ruling) in many ways enhances the function of the commissioner."

Late Friday, Groenewegen announced she is considering an appeal of Vertes' ruling. She will also be re-approaching the MSB in light of it.

Premier Don Morin would not comment and no member of the MSB could be reached by News/North's deadline.