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MLAs won't reveal premier picks
Abernethy, Ramsay, Bisaro say they don't want to jeopardize relationships with colleagues

Galit Rodan
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 2, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
All three Yellowknife MLAs who stated during the election that they would publicly reveal their choice for premier are backing away from that pledge.

In September, Glen Abernethy, Dave Ramsay and Wendy Bisaro all responded in the affirmative to an NNSL Online survey question asking, "Will you go public with your choice for premier?"

Bisaro, the returning MLA for Frame Lake, said she never intended to agree to reveal her choice of premier publicly but rather just wanted to indicate that she would canvass her constituents for their opinions.

She said she was tired after filling out many other surveys and "didn't really think about what I was typing when I typed it."

Her response to NNSL Online's query about her willingness to disclose her vote for premier was: "Yes. And prior to the vote I will canvass my constituents for their input."

Meanwhile, Great Slave MLA Abernethy, and Ramsay, MLA for Kam Lake, both of whom have been voted into cabinet, say they are willing to reveal their choices to constituents who phone and ask for the information but are not prepared to go public.

"I did speak to a significant number of my constituents and I got feedback from them on who I should support and that's who I supported," said Abernethy. "At the end of the day I'm accountable to my constituents and if a constituent were to phone me and talk to me I'm happy to tell them who I supported and why, but as far as a public announcement, I'm not going to do that."

Ramsay expressed a similar sentiment, saying "I don't want to come across as saying one thing and doing another. If a constituent phoned me and it wasn't going to be in the newspaper and publicized all over the place I would tell them who I voted for. I mean I'm not - I've got integrity - and I'm not going to hide."

Bisaro said she probably would tell an inquiring constituent who she voted for but it would depend on the circumstances.

Ramsay said being in cabinet requires him to observe a higher level of discretion than he did as a regular member.

"Now that I'm a cabinet minister, it's difficult because I don't want to compromise the good work that we've started here," he said. "I don't want to divide anybody on things I might say. You gotta be much more careful in what you say. You're not as freewheeling as a regular member would be."

Abernethy had previously made this commitment in response to NNSL Online: "Once we know who the candidates are I will seek input from my constituents on who they would like to see as premier and why. I will use this information to make my selection for premier. After the selection is done I will have no problem identifying who I supported for premier of the Northwest Territories."

Prior to the election, Ramsay told NNSL Online: "I have no problem stating who I will support forpremier. I have made the suggestion to my colleagues that if you wanted to lend accountability to the process you could simply have a recorded vote, this would force members to be accountable to their constituents and take out some of the backroom deal making that only benefits the member, not the public."

Abernethy and Bisaro said last week that they did not want to jeopardize the relationships with their colleagues, a fundamental aspect of consensus government.

"It can be quite acrimonious," said Bisaro of the premier and cabinet selections. "If it's two people who don't get along particularly well and one wins and one loses then there's liable to be some sort of repercussion. It can just strain relationships and that's not a good thing."

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