Jess McDiarmid
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 9, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Members of the legislative assembly can no longer splurge at will on trinkets for constituents under new regulations approved by a committee of MLAs.

The board of management, the legislative assembly's decision-making body on MLA rules and practices, decided during the last assembly to place tighter restrictions on MLA spending on "promotional items" such as keychains, pens and coffee mugs.

"The board was of the view that the number and variety of these types of promotional items was increasing and members were being quite creative in terms of what sorts of things they could purchase," said Tim Mercer, clerk of the legislative assembly.

While Mercer said there has been no abuse of the rules in the NWT, the high-profile constituency spending scandal in Newfoundland also led to its decision to re-evaluate the rules.

Prior to the current assembly, members could spend any amount on a promotional item as long as it had the member's contact information on it.

Now they must purchase items from a list maintained by the legislative assembly's public affairs and communications advisor. No item can be valued at more than $30.

The list includes items that are "not of any practical value" but rather trinkets to place around homes, offices and cars in case constituents need to contact their MLA.

It includes calendars, water bottles and sticky notes, among other items.

The recently-appointed board of management with the 16th legislative assembly decided Wednesday night, however, that it would not require MLAs who were re-elected in October to take special action on any items left over from the previous assembly.

"The issue for me is moving forward," said David Ramsay, MLA for Kam Lake and a member of the board of management. MLAs with inventory from the previous assembly should be allowed to disburse of it at will, said Ramsay.

Mercer said re-elected MLAs had been coming forward wondering what to do with promotional items left over from previous terms.

The board agreed members should be allowed to get rid of the materials as long as they fell within previous regulations.

MLAs will not be barred from purchasing new promotional items from the list while getting rid of old items.

Territorial documents released last year showed MLAs spending large amounts of money on items, including $6,550 for 1,000 daytimers, $2,514 for mugs and water bottles and $4,436 for 500 calendars.

In Newfoundland last year, the auditor general's investigation of spending by the house of assembly revealed roughly $1 million in misused constituency budget funds.