SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
At least one MLA intends to repay the legal expenses covered by the territorial government after he was among a group of candidates late to file election expense information.

The missed deadline forced eight MLAs to file paperwork at the NWT Supreme Court so they could take their seats and vote in the legislative assembly when it resumed mid-February.

Clerk Tim Mercer made the decision to have legislative assembly lawyers prepare the documents and provide him legal advice, at a cost of about $6,124 for all eight. He said this was to ensure MLAs could sit for the start of session and because the errors were either made "in good faith" or they were mailed out on time but didn't arrive before the deadline.

Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart - the only Yellowknife MLA to not meet the deadline - stated in a news release last week he's heard from those who have "raised concerns."

"I will be paying back the costs associated with my case over this matter," he stated. His portion is $500, according to Mercer, who also stated in an e-mail he's not heard from any other MLAs about repaying.

Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, city-based political analyst and adjunct professor at Carleton University, questioned why individuals weren't required to pay the costs instead of having it covered by the public through legislative assembly lawyers.

"Should the legislative assembly pick up legal expenses for them to do something that they're required to do as candidates, not MLAs? I think the answer there is no," she said in an interview Thursday.

The issue arose because rules in the Elections and Plebiscites Act set out that within 60 days of an election, all candidates are required to file a financial report about spending and contributions. Those not elected have the ability to seek extensions to the deadline. Those elected have no such ability.

The Speaker, two cabinet ministers and five regular MLAs missed the deadline or filed incomplete reports. By law, that meant they had to file papers with the court before they could sit and vote.

Mercer said his decision to have legislative assembly lawyers do the work for the MLAs was based on a two-stage test.

First, five of the MLAs who missed the deadline had mailed complete reports more than a week in advance but the reports had not arrived in time. The other three made their errors "in good faith," said Mercer. The Speaker, for example, was acclaimed and didn't believe he had to file the election expense information because he didn't have any. For Testart, the person responsible for some of the information was in hospital with medical issues in the time leading up to the deadline.

The second test was related to timing - the legislative assembly was set to resume and eight of 19 MLAs could have been forced to stay away.

"Our primary concern was to make sure they could sit and vote in the House," said Mercer.

To speed up the process, he said it was decided to handle it as a group effort by assembly lawyers. Mercer noted MLAs were given the chance to retain their own lawyer if they wanted.

The MLAs were required to pay fines of $250 each and court filing fees of $150 each out of their own pocket. They also forfeited an Elections NWT nomination deposit of $200.

Irlbacher-Fox called for a change to the Elections and Plebiscites Act to give the chief electoral officer more flexibility instead of forcing MLAs to file paperwork with the court system.

"They're being penalized because they were elected," Irlbacher-Fox said.

She said the issue resulted in a lot of time wasted among elected members, those who dealt with the paperwork and the court system.

Testart stated he intends to introduce amendments to the legislation to give the chief electoral officer discretion to allow extensions for MLAs.

By press time, no other MLAs had signalled an intention repay the cost.

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