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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Territorial cabinet ministers who brought their families on government charter flights to the launch party for the Deh Cho Bridge on Nov. 30 may have violated territorial policy and worse, are in an ethical violation of using public funds for private reasons, alleges Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins.

Hawkins is specifically calling out Transportation Minister David Ramsay, saying he should have known better than to fly his family to Fort Providence for the opening date without paying their way.

"Quite frankly, he was the well-articulated voice of ethics and right-doing last term continually and now, this seems to be a clear occurrence of 'Do as I say, not as I do,'" Hawkins told Yellowknifer.

Also bringing family members on the plane were Premier Bob McLeod, who brought his wife, and Education Minister Jackson Lafferty, who came with his son Ty. Ramsay brought his girlfriend and two children.

Ramsay won't be commenting on the matter, said Brenda Norris, a spokesperson for the GNWT cabinet, because the issue is being investigated by the NWT conflict of interest commissioner.

In a letter sent Jan. 7 to Michael Miltenberger, chair of the financial management board, Hawkins implored the minister to look into a possible breach of government policy for cabinet ministers having non-government passengers on government charter flights.

Under the directive, titled FAM directive #3307, non-government passengers may fly on a government charter flight as long as a written agreement is made to pay for costs associated with travel, among other stipulations.

"Basically, there is a clear violation of the policy and there was no response or intent, in my view, to comply with it before they were caught," said Hawkins.

Hawkins said he believes at best, there was a serious ethical violation and he wants to see this addressed publicly. He added that he had raised his concerns with cabinet a month after the plane ride but has yet to receive a response from any cabinet minister.

"Even as of today, I've not been informed that they've paid at all," said Hawkins Wednesday. "And the public purse should not absorb this cost."

Yesterday, Department of Transportation spokesperson Earl Blacklock told Yellowknifer that a decision has been made by the government that all three cabinet ministers who brought family members on chartered aircraft will be required to pay $120 for each non-governmental passenger.

Nonetheless, Blacklock disagrees with Hawkins' assessment, saying that taxpayers did not foot the bill for non-government travel to Fort Providence for the Deh Cho Bridge opening.

"I don't think public money really did pay for it - we had room," he said. "If we hadn't had room ... it wouldn't have occurred."

Two Air Tindi aircraft were chartered by the GNWT to transport approximately 45 passengers to Fort Providence and back on Nov. 30, according to documents attached to Hawkins' letter to Miltenberger. A Yellowknifer reporter was on board one of the planes but to date, has not been asked to pay.

Blacklock said even without the extra passengers, two planes would have been used for safety purposes.

"When you've got so many cabinet ministers, you make sure they're divided between two planes," he explained. "If the worst happened and one of those planes went down and we lost everyone on board, we can't have the entire cabinet on one aircraft."

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