Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 19/00) - If the debate around the council table is any indication, discussion of city-sponsored resolutions at the upcoming NWT Association of Municipalities (NWTAM) convention should be lively indeed.

For more than two hours on April 10, mayor and councillors debated the pros and cons of nine resolutions.

They ranged from simple mom-and-apple-pie issues like more money for economic development, tourism and accessible public transit, to other, more complex ones that cast an eye to changing the way people vote for mayor and council.

"The intent of this is to provoke debate," explained Coun. Robert Slaven.

And it all ended with council voting 4-3 to reject a call to bind city delegates to supporting Yellowknife-sponsored resolutions.

If adopted by NWTAM and the territorial government, two resolutions would have an impact on how elections are run in the North. Coun. Robert Slaven's motion to update civic election rules would bring the NWT Local Authorities Elections Act in line with the NWT Elections Act.

Sections in the resolution call for disclosure of campaign donations more than $100, provision for mail-in ballots, e-voting and telephone voting, and an automatic recount if the difference is less than two per cent of the total votes cast.

A call to advance municipal elections to allow new councils a greater opportunity to work on budgets for the following year received the backing of most councillors.

It originally called for consideration of changing the fiscal year, but that was felt too complex to achieve.

Advancing the election was simpler and only Coun. Ben McDonald was opposed, saying council could simply pass an interim budget and then amend it before the tax rate was set.

Among those in support was Coun. Alan Woytuik.

"A month (after being elected) is too short a time to get up to speed on the budget," he said.

"I would like the ability to move the election day by a full six months, not just a few weeks or a month."

A resolution that would allow candidates to run for both mayor and council spurred considerable debate but was ultimately defeated in a 4-3 vote.

Its aim was to allow candidates who run for mayor, but don't get elected, to still have a chance to get on council.

The policy is usually reserved for small communities where there's a small population from which to draw candidates. It's not normally considered necessary in large centres like Yellowknife, but some city councillors suggested it would be a good way to give voters an opportunity to get someone they like on council.

"Some people aren't on council today who I feel could be or should be because they thought they had enough respect to run for mayor," explained Coun. Cheryl Best.

Coun. Bob Brooks took the resolution one step farther, amending it to call for separate elections for mayor and council.

That could give candidates an opportunity to run for mayor and then go back to the voters at a later date to run for councillor.

It was turned down when a majority decided the problems it created -- especially cost of running separate elections -- outweighed any positive impacts.

"The way I see this motion, is that it's good for sitting candidates but not good for the rest of the community," said McDonald.

"There's good value in having high risk for losing a run for mayor."

A resolution seeking transfer of gasoline taxes to a municipality to subsidize public transit in that community was passed and will be forwarded to the May 26-28 NWTAM in Fort Simpson.