Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 15/01) - Regular MLAs delivered an indecisive slap on the wrist to cabinet for not keeping them properly informed on government business.
It came in a motion to censure cabinet that left most of the 19-member legislature sitting on their hands when it passed by a 2-0 vote.
The censure -- essentially a formal warning to cabinet -- centred on a dispute between Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko and the Transportation department.
Krutko has been peppering Transportation Minister Vince Steen and Finance Minister Joe Handley with questions about part of the highway construction budget from his riding to that of Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland.
Steen and Handley said the money was moved because engineers determined a bridge had to be built where a culvert had been planned.The project was all one and therefore no notification was required.
Krutko insisted the highway reconstruction was a series of projects and that notification was legally required.
Krutko's frustration boiled over Wednesday when, referring to a conversation he and the minister had the evening before, he accused Handley of deliberately misleading the house.
Speaker Tony Whitford ruled Krutko had no point of order because private conversations could not form a basis for such a complaint.
Handley gave his version of the conversation, and demanded that Krutko withdraw the accusation.
Under orders from Whitford, and glowering at Handley, Krutko rose and said that "for the sake of proceeding, I will take it back."
Premier Stephen Kakfwi protested that "there is no sincerity" in Krutko's statement. Whitford said it was not his role to determine the "level of sincerity of the withdrawal."
Krutko then introduced a motion to censure cabinet for not informing him of the changes to the Dempster reconstruction plan.
While all regular MLAs spoke in favour of the spirit of the motion, five said they could not support it because they were not sure protocol was violated.
When Whitford called for a vote, only Krutko and North Slave MLA Leon Lafferty raised their hands. No one was opposed and the motion passed 2-0.
