Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t repeat exactly what I said. My message is that we all have signed an oath. We all have responsibilities. We all know what the rules of the House are or know where to find the rules if we are unsure, and we all operate with respect, but we all have the right to criticize positions taken by one another. Certainly Members have a right to comment on Cabinet’s performance, whether it is individual Ministers, the Cabinet as a group or the Premier or whatever. That is all part of the democratic process. Mr. Speaker, we respect that. If we violate that, then we...

Mr. Speaker, I want to think about how we would do it, the best way of doing it. Certainly, in letters to Ministers, that has happened. If the Members feel there is a need to come out with some kind of public statement, then, yes, I will take that into consideration. I am not sure what would be the best way of doing that, but, as I say, Mr. Speaker, I expect that the public believes that we operate fairly in this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm for the Minister that there is no special privilege given to a Minister’s constituency over that of someone else. Some may disagree with that sometimes, I don’t know. But, Mr. Speaker, I can say that in my experience in fact it has been a disadvantage to be on Cabinet because sometimes you can’t represent your constituency the way you would like to because it conflicts with your role as Cabinet Minister.

Mr. Speaker, on things like capital plans and so on, we review those, we go through them with the committees, we welcome and are waiting for committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform this Assembly of the following change to portfolio assignments effective 5:00 p.m. today. I will assume responsibility for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

The Honourable Floyd Roland will retain responsibility for the Department of Health and Social Services.

The Honourable Charles Dent will become Minister of Human Resources and Minister responsible for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities.

The Honourable Brendan Bell will lead our efforts to deal with the issue of homelessness in the Northwest Territories.

The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we were all sworn in, we did pledge an oath of office. We all have to abide by that. We all have to abide by the rules of the House. Everybody has a right to critique, to criticize, to comment on Ministers, on the Premier, on performance. I think the public expects no less. Mr. Speaker, I need more information about is somebody putting pressure on someone. I don’t know. Of course, the public always has the right to make their comments to each of us too, and we have to respect that. Mr. Speaker, I want to think about how we would convey this kind of message...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the public expects that we are going to be fair to everybody as a government, that we all have equal rights in this Legislative Assembly. From the day I first let my name stand as Premier, I made it clear that that is the way that I was going to operate. I don’t have the exact wording of my statement in this House following my appointment as Premier, but I operate that way. We have talked about it in Cabinet. Certainly, from our side, there will be no tolerance of intimidation of Members, and I expect the same is true for everybody in this House. Thank you...

Mr. Speaker, I think things have changed a lot since the old days that Mrs. Groenewegen refers to because we do not do business that way. It’s a very well laid out process and there is fairness to everyone. There will be and has been, to my knowledge, no reprisals from our government and we will police that very carefully if we ever hear anybody starting to make those kinds of threats or whatever, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our obligation as a government is to provide fair, equitable service to everybody regardless of where they live and regardless of what their MLA may have said or not said...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, in terms of constitutional reform issues, we want to take our rightful place in the country. We are paying our fair share. We are earning our share through resource revenues and I will entertain doing that. I want to do it with all northerners, whether it is Metis, Dene, Inuvialuit, other people, whoever, all of us together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard two questions. I'll answer the first one, and I apologize if the Member wasn't aware of who our negotiator was. Our negotiator is Hal Gerein. He has been our negotiator going back in the previous government, I believe. He's been there a long time. He's an experienced person who spent many years as a deputy minister in our government and has done an excellent job, in my view, for us.

The second question is how much time in the Ottawa office. They are dealing with all kinds of files there from all the Ministers and so on. But I would estimate that probably...

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t hear a question, but I’d appreciate hearing from the people in the area and, as I said before, we’re ready to help in whatever way we can. Thank you.