Members defend reasons for their vote

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, March 13, 2014

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two MLAs in the Deh Cho region have differing views on a motion that opens up the possibility of the current legislative assembly extending its term by a year.

Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche voted for and Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli voted against a motion March 10 that asks the federal government to amend, through parliament, the Northwest Territories Act to allow the current assembly to extend its term for a period not exceeding five years. Parliament is already considering the Northwest Territories Devolution Act, which includes a new Northwest Territories Act that would extend the maximum term of future assemblies from four to five years.

The motion was proposed by MLA Jane Groenewegen and Minister Michael Miltenberger. At the assembly Monday, Groenewegen said the bill was brought about because of the convergence of federal, territorial and municipal elections in October 2015.

The territorial government has elections set for Oct. 5 and the federal government is considering Oct. 19. There would be competition for volunteers, campaign workers and elections staff, she said according to the Hansard record.

Some people have also suggested that there might be higher voter participation if the elections occurred on the same day, Groenewegen said. Currently the assembly couldn't move their election to coincide with the federal one if Oct. 19 is chosen because it would be seven days past the end of their term.

Groenewegen suggested a change to her bill, which originally said the territorial election would be moved to Oct. 2016. The amended motion, which was passed by a vote of 11-7, no longer states exactly when the next election would be held.

Menicoche said he voted for the motion so the assembly would have the option of moving its election to either coincide with the federal one or avoid it by possibly a month.

"I've heard clearly that a one-year extension is a non-starter for my constituents and I also heard clearly that constituents want to be consulted and that time is needed," he said.

Menicoche noted that the motion doesn't automatically extend the term. If parliament approves the extension, the assembly would have to pass a second bill to change the date of the election.

During his upcoming April and May constituency tour, Menicoche said, he will be consulting with Nahendeh residents on the issue.

Nadli had a different view. Nadli said he voted against the motion, even after it was amended, because he didn't agree with extending the assembly's term.

"It's a contract when voters put an x to a candidate. They are agreeing for you to stay in office for four years. To unilaterally change the terms of your mandate is fundamentally wrong," he said.

When supporting the motion some people suggested having multiple elections in a month could be confusing. Nadli said he doesn't agree with that argument.

"We can't underestimate the electorate," he said.

"From my understanding people love elections."

Nadli said he will be speaking with his constituents on the issue. It's only right that electorate who voted for the members of the assembly have a say in what happens, he said.

"What's important is that there has to be a very strong element of transparency and at the same time a public process," said Nadli.

If voters want to extend the assembly's term by a year they can make that decision, but MLAs shouldn't be doing it unilaterally, he said.