Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 11/98) - Round one goes to the rest of the NWT.

A large delegation of Yellowknife residents left the NWT legislative assembly with long faces last night after MLAs voted to shelve a report calling for two additional MLAs to ensure better representation for the city.

MLAs were debating the recommendations of the 1998 NWT Electoral Boundaries Commission which submitted its report to the assembly last month.

Commissioners Nick Sibbeston of Fort Simpson, Tuktoyaktuk's Lucy Kuptana and Supreme Court Justice Virginia Schuler of Yellowknife reported the city's population and the principle of effective representation meant Yellowknife should receive two more MLAs.

This idea was rejected during an often emotional debate Thursday.

Most MLAs from the communities argued the city already has enough political power and the type of economy and infrastructure that their constituents can only dream of.

Mentioning the Yellowknife crowd in the gallery, Nahendeh MLA Jim Antoine said his constituents didn't have the same opportunity to make such a show of force on a weekday hundreds of kilometres from home.

Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger said the assembly could be improved without more MLAs for Yellowknife. He said his constituents had clearly told both him and the commission that two further politicians for the North's largest city was unacceptable.

City MLAs Charles Dent and Jake Ootes said the assembly would operate more effectively with the additional representatives on hand. Without more ordinary MLAs, the post-division legislature ran the risk of being further dominated by the cabinet, Dent said.

Shortly after the motion calling for the additional MLAs was defeated, city politicians vowed the North hasn't heard the last of this issue.

"It's early for that, but I can't see (city) council not considering it," Lovell said when asked about the possibility of the city taking court action.

"Yellowknife asking for more seats isn't being a bully, it's standing up for its' rights.

"Yes, there is a bias against Yellowknife (in the NWT), but this is one of the first times they've (MLAs) stepped across the line."

Coun. Robert Slaven, a well-known advocate of increasing the city's number of territorial politicians, said a group of residents will be meeting next Wednesday to plan their next step. Like Lovell, he said a legal challenge was definitely possible.

"There are some problems in terms of access (to government and services in the communities as opposed to Yellowknife), but a lot of that is normal urban-rural stuff," he said.

"The Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) doesn't say every community is equal, it says every individual is equal."