MLAs slap sunset clause on new seats
Attention shifts to a companion constitutional and electoral reform commission proposed by the committee that studied Bill 15

Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 02/99) - Bill 15, the much-debated electoral boundaries bill, is now law.

The only major amendment to the bill that grants Yellowknife three new electoral seats, Hay River one seat and Inuvik one seat is a so-called sunset clause.

That clause repeals the new seats at the end of the next legislature.

So, with the bill itself out of the way, attention now shifts to a companion constitutional and electoral reform commission proposed by the committee that studied Bill 15.

Unlike past constitutional processes, the recommended constitutional commission would have equal representation by both aboriginals and non-aboriginals as well as representation from women.

It would also operate at arms length from the government, settle on a name for the Northwest Territories and devise a way to reconcile aboriginal and public government in time for a proposed constitutional conference on June 30, 2002.

The recommendation also holds for a binding referendum to follow that conference.

Whether this recommendation becomes law is up to Northerners.

Premier Jim Antoine said the government will consult with aboriginal leaders and others to determine if all the committee's recommendations are indeed shared by the public.

"Now that the recommendations of the committee have become formal motions of the House, we intend to give them full consideration," he told members during a clause-by-clause review session of Bill 15 last week.

But committee member Don Morin, who has been a vocal supporter of the recommendations, kept pressing Antoine to commit to introduce legislation enshrining the recommendations in law.

The legislature is set to be dissolved on Oct. 21 for a Dec. 6 election and, by Antoine's own account, legislation to cover all the committee's recommendations could take months.

"We're in a tight time crunch," Antoine said. "Summer is a difficult time to get people."

Other committee recommendations could be introduced during the likely September sitting of this legislature including a 2-2-2 formula for cabinet makeup.

That recommendation holds that two cabinet ministers would be from Yellowknife, two would be from southern ridings and two would be from northern ridings.