There is never a good time for a politician to be caught bending the rules to help someone secure a contract.

But even a whiff of such action by a territorial politician right now is foolhardy. Mistrust and hard feelings in the legislative assembly have caused deep cracks in its foundation. And MLAs should be doing everything they can to band together and rebuild a solid foundation.

It was only this past Monday that members of the legislative assembly voted in favour of Premier Stephen Kakfwi continuing to lead our territory.

This was after the federal auditor general found Kakfwi's former chief of staff had been overpaid by $250,000 in a negotiated severance package.

But we didn't even make it to the end of the week before we're shaking our heads again over the actions of another politician.

Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Jim Antoine either will not or cannot explain why he would even consider sole-sourcing a multi-million dollar contract to a local aviation company that does not meet the criteria for such contracts.

Sole-source contracts are approved if: the contract is under $1,000; it's an emergency; it is for architectural or engineering services under $25,000; there is only one firm available or able to do the work.

None of the above points apply. It's a multi-year, multi-million dollar water bombing contract; there are no emergency forest fires in the NWT at the moment; this is an aerial contract; there are at least two other Northern firms saying they can do the job and should at least have the chance to bid on it.

It was only when it was revealed publicly that the contract would not be tendered that Antoine said negotiations had stopped for now, adding they are "trying to determine how we are going to proceed from here."

If 'they' had taken the time to determine if this contract could be sole-sourced in the first place, 'we' would not have to question the action.

At this point, Antoine owes us an explanation.

Either he doesn't understand which contracts are to be tendered publicly or he got caught in the act. Right now, his silence points to the latter.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

When I first moved to the NWT, I thought consensus government was a great idea. With no party line to tow, each member is free to work in the best interest of their constituents.

Then there was the Morin Inquiry and now this most recent debacle.

As I see it, here is what happened:

In an effort to distance themselves from Don Morin's allies, the new government purges cabinet of anyone with even remote ties to Morin.

In the purge, Michael Miltenberger loses his cabinet post to Jane Groenewegen, who led the charge against Morin.

Miltenberger retaliates with his own conflict of interest charge against Groenewegen. That's dismissed, so he tries again.

Here, the plot takes an ugly turn, when Groenewegen, John Bayly and Lynda Sorensen secretly tape a telephone conversation between Groenewegen and conflict of interest commissioner Carol Roberts.

When the world finds out, damage control reaches DEFCON 5 and rather than resign, Groenewegen relinquishes her cabinet post to Miltenberger and Sorensen and Bayly are fired with a secret golden handshake.

Those concerned breath a sigh of relief until the auditor general reports that the handshake is improper and once again, our government's credibility has flown out the window.

Compare what happened here, with any workplace situation. If Kakfwi was a CEO at any corporation, shareholders would call for his head.

Not only should Kakfwi be canned, the whole system should be canned. The flaw in consensus government is that there is no official opposition to act as watchdog. Other than sporadic bursts of discontent fired from individual members, there is no organized review of the government's actions.

With each member scrambling to fulfill their mandate, portfolios and work on committees, there is no time for eternal vigilance.

I don't believe that Kakfwi, Groenewegen or Miltenberger are evil people. Quite the opposite. I think each has brought some great leadership and initiatives to their jobs.

There was a certain amount of arrogance and a large amount of stupidy that led these people to where they are today, but it was the system that allowed it to get this far.

This form of government fosters mis-management and breeds corruption, because it has no restraint or accountabilty.

Once again, the consensus government has failed the electorate and once again, our government is left looking like a banana republic.

How can Ottawa take us seriously when our representatives go down there crying poor, when they see this kind of action?

If we can afford to dole out $800,000 in severence pay to negligent ex-employees, we certainly can afford an alcohol treatment program.

The real irony here is that right now Donny Morin is enjoying a hearty belly laugh at how the system that ousted him came back to oust the ones who ousted him.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

The Kaa Dule United Corporation has beaten the Deh Cho Economic Corporation to the punch.

Incorporated within a few short weeks, the Kaa Dule United Corporation is chasing down pipeline-related contracts that will benefit the region. That's falls right in line with what the Deh Cho Economic Corporation has been mandated to do, but the economic corporation apparently wasn't quite ready to jump in yet.

For years, calls for economic development in the region have fallen on deaf ears. However, the momentum in favour of some level of industrial activity has grown within individual First Nations over the past while.

Deh Cho First Nations Grand Chief Michael Nadli has held firm in his position that an Interim Resource Development Agreement must come first. It will provide the region with lasting returns through royalties and ensuring equitable impact benefits agreements. The drawback? The timeline for signing such an agreement remains elusive.

However, Nadli consented to the formation of a Deh Cho Economic Corporation, which will oversee regional projects as directed by board members from all Deh Cho communities. Organization and agreement on a regional economic corporation has taken some time as delegates from 13 organizations (10 First Nations and three Metis Locals) are responsible for sorting out all the details. Yet there has been some real progress over the past few months, including the acquisition of $206,000 in start-up funding from the federal and territorial governments.

Despite the steady progress, the economic corporation didn't quite have its ducks in a row when engineering firm ColtKBR put out a request for qualifications for preliminary pipeline contract candidates.

So representatives from four Deh Cho political bodies swung into action and, with guidance from a consultant or two, formed the Kaa Dule United Corporation. They made their submissions to ColtKBR just under the (extended) wire.

Now we have a situation that is surely to be hashed out at this week's fall leadership assembly in Fort Providence. It doesn't have to be a knock-down, drag-out fight, but it could turn into one. It's primarily a question of whether the Kaa Dule United Corporation will merge with or fall under the Deh Cho Economic Corporation. If not, political leaders will have to decide how the two entities will co-exist.

Michael Nadli's long-standing desire to see unity among the region's communities is commendable, as is his long-term vision of enduring benefits for the region.

What is puzzling is his remarks regarding this winter's preliminary pipeline work. Why would he down-play a share of $4 million-$6 million? Bidding on such contracts will not compromise the Deh Cho First Nations position on a pipeline or resource development.

Why should such contracts, which are going to be tendered whether there's any interest expressed from the Deh Cho or not, continue to go strictly to Southern companies?

Obviously some local organizations are tired of waiting for answers.