Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 29/01) - Premier Stephen Kakfwi's loyalty to his closest political advisor has landed him in the battle of his political life.

That battle will resume today in Yellowknife, when the legislative assembly considers the first two of three proposed votes aimed at measuring the confidence the assembly has in the premier.

Stephen Kakfwi: Testing the loyalty

It may be that none of the votes are necessary as Kakfwi will first announce whether or not he wishes to continue as premier.

The threat of the confidence votes arose soon after the premier said last Wednesday he would not consider taking any further disciplinary action against his two most senior advisers.

Some MLAs say a letter of reprimand Kakfwi issued to principal secretary John Bayly and chief of staff Lynda Sorensen does not restore their confidence in the premier's office.

Bayly made the now infamous March 26 phone call to conflict of interest commissioner Carol Roberts. He did not tell Roberts that Sorensen, cabinet minister Jane Groenewegen and other staffers were listening in on his end.

Groenewegen was also recording the call, with the aim of bolstering an allegation of bias she levelled against the commissioner. When political pressure over the tactic mounted, she resigned as deputy premier.

Last Tuesday, citing a loss of the confidence of members, the Hay River MLA announced her resignation from cabinet. Kakfwi accepted Bayly's resignation on Thursday.

Reached by phone on Friday, Sorensen refused to comment. Asked if she was considering resigning, she would say only, "I'm not doing any interviews today, goodbye," before hanging up.

A former MLA and federal candidate, Sorensen has been Kakfwi's campaign manager and closest political adviser since he first ran for territorial office in 1987.

Sorensen has been a source of division in the house almost since the start of this assembly, when regular MLAs took exception to Kakfwi creating the chief of staff position for her. MLAs also objected to Sorensen chairing Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew's successful re-election bid last December.

Kakfwi has softened his initial stance on the staffing issue.

"He agreed with me something will be done, but he just needs time," said North Slave MLA Leon Lafferty.

Lafferty was a member of the special committee that urged the premier to fire Bayly and Sorensen.

"Right now he does have my confidence and my support to run the government of the Northwest Terrritories," said Lafferty. "But the one change has to be there if I'm going to stand up and vote in confidence for him ... there has to be a change with the staff."

Kakfwi said his decision to proceed or not will hinge on the show of public support he receives. From the time he announced he may resign, a steady stream of aboriginal and business leaders and individuals leaders began filing into the legislative assembly to express their support for the premier.

On Friday Kakfwi presented the assembly with 17 letters and e-mails of support for himself and another two for Sorensen. Authors of the letters included Dogrib Grand Chief Joe Rabesca and Akalvik Chief Charlie Furlong.