NWT
The 18th Legislative Assembly will operate under a new set of residency rules, including an evaluation schedule to make sure leaders are spending enough time in their own ridings and new allowances for ministers who chose to reside outside Yellowknife.

MLAs pose for a group photo in the legislative assembly after the swearing in ceremony Dec. 8. In the back row from the left are Rocky Simpson, Kieron Testart, Bob McLeod, Shane Thompson, Julie Green, Glen Abernethy, Robert C. McLeod, Alfred Moses, Tom Beaulieu, Cory Vanthuyne, Wally Schumann and Louis Sebert. Sitting, from left, are Herbert Nakimayak, Frederick Blake Jr., Kevin O'Reilly, Jackson Lafferty, Michael Nadli, Daniel McNeely and Caroline Cochrane. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

The clarifications were revealed on Jan. 13 at the first board of management (BOM) meeting of the 18th Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife.

For ministers who live outside the capital, there will no longer be a requirement to relocate.

According to Tim Mercer, the legislative assembly clerk, the new policy has actually been in place since 2014 because former ministers were disregarding the former rule.

"This is what many of them were doing regardless but they were not eligible for the Northern living allowance for their home community, as was the case for regular members," Mercer said.

The changes will work out to an additional $14,000 a year for Inuvik-based Finance Ministers Robert C. McLeod and Education, Culture and Employment Minister Alfred Moses. Hay River South MLA and Natural Resources Minister Wally Schumann will be able to claim $5,600, while Justice Minister Louis Sebert is entitled to $5,900 to live in Fort Smith. All four members listed their primary residence as being in their home communities.

Out-of-town cabinet ministers are also entitled to an additional $7,400 non-taxable allowance for maintaining a second residence in Yellowknife.

Residency evaluations

The other major clarification revealed during the meeting dealt with MLA residency, which Mercer described as a "potential land mine."

In essence, the rules are intended to ensure members are spending an appropriate amount of time in the community they list as being their primary residence.

Members must now swear a residency declaration before the law clerk of the legislative assembly.

That declaration indicates where members spend their time when not on official assembly or cabinet business. Those declarations will be evaluated and monitored by the clerk's office and board of management.

Next, members will be placed into one of three categories: MLAs who are deemed to be at high risk of not spending enough time in their declared home communities are evaluated monthly, medium risk MLAs are assessed every three months while members deemed to be at low risk for breaking the residency rules are re-evaluated once a year.

MLAs have the option to appeal any decisions made on whether they are breaking their residency obligations.

In reference to this chance, Mercer specifically pointed to suspended Canadian senator Mike Duffy, who was criminally charged for, among other things, listing his primary residence to be in Prince Edward Island and then claiming expenses for working in Ottawa.

It's alleged his primary residence was in fact in Ottawa.