In detail: What’s in this new ‘independent caucus’ proposal?

Three regular MLAs are pitching a new independent committee or caucus that they say will “save consensus government” in the NWT.

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins and Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon announced the proposal at a press conference in the NWT legislature building on Thursday.

All three highlighted concerns with the 20th Legislative Assembly, several of which they shared in statements in the House last week. They said the current system and relationship between cabinet and regular MLAs isn’t adequately addressing challenges the territory is facing.

“The status quo isn’t moving fast enough to meet the moment northerners find themselves in, and we owe it to the people we serve to bring new ideas forward and work with our colleagues to make them happen,” Testart said.

Edjericon said the needs of small communities in particular are not being heard by government.

“We’ve got to stand up and fight for small communities and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.

Hawkins said in the four governments he has been an MLA, he believes the current cabinet is “the most dismissive” when it comes to regular MLAs’ issues. He said the new committee will “do business differently and better” by allowing regular MLAs to work as a united team to advance issues such as housing and public safety.

“I think what we’re going to do is narrow down the issues, focus on them and work together so we can actually raise everyone up on that committee – raise the community issues up,” he said.

Cabin Radio has reached out to the premier’s office for comment.

How will the committee work?

Few details were released at the press conference about how the proposed committee – which was also referred to as a caucus – would operate, how it would be structured and what would be required of members.

Hawkins said the concept is still being developed and MLAs will have an opportunity to speak with constituents before moving forward.

Edjericon said the idea of an independent caucus is not new to the territory. He compared it to a former eastern Arctic caucus, which he said included MLAs representing communities in what is now Nunavut before it separated from the NWT.

The new proposal for an independent caucus in the NWT was pitched to regular MLAs at an earlier private meeting.

On Thursday evening, Testart shared a “discussion paper” with Cabin Radio. He said a version of the paper had been shown at that meeting.

The document describes an independent members’ caucus that would allow “like-minded MLAs” to work together to advance common issues and hold cabinet accountable.

It included a graphic depicting that caucus as having a mandate including housing, the economy, healthcare and public safety.

The document said the caucus would “not upset the workings” of the Legislative Assembly, cabinet or the accountability and oversight committee “at this stage.” In the future, however, it said the caucus could seek “consequential changes” such as rule changes, board of management funding and House seating.

Shauna Morgan, the MLA for Yellowknife North, has compared the proposal to party politics. Testart has previously tried to introduce political parties at the territorial level in the NWT.

Testart on Thursday claimed party politics already exists in the NWT, describing cabinet as the single party.

He said he, Hawkins and Edjericon don’t want to throw out the consensus government system but are trying to improve it.

“They meet in their own cabinet room with their own caucus, with their own staff and they have their own strategy discussions separate from us,” he said of cabinet members.

“What isn’t happening is transparency around the politics in this building. There’s far too many secret meetings, far too many in-camera hearings.”

When asked if meetings of the proposed committee would be public, Testart responded: “The work of the committee will be made public.”

“You can’t always meet with the doors open, but you can do things like this,” he said, referring to the press conference.

He promised that the committee would be transparent about the decisions it makes and positions it supports.

How will this be different than the current system?

All 11 regular MLAs currently form the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, which is mandated to review legislative proposals and government-wide issues as well as evaluate the performance of ministers, among other work.

Testart said the new committee will be different as regular MLAs can choose whether to join, while membership in the accountability and oversight committee is mandatory.

“We spend a lot of time trying to cobble together ideas and political positions and then we go to the floor and inevitably people will have found a way to vote with the government,” Testart said of the existing committee.

“The challenge is, when you’re 11 independent members in a room and told you are the second thought of government, you’re the one questioning government, it’s very difficult if not paralyzing when it comes to trying to coalesce on individual issues,” Hawkins added.

Another potential difference is that members of the new committee or caucus may be required to vote as a bloc.

When asked directly whether that would be the case, Hawkins said the proposal was not about voting together and no one would be excluded for having a different opinion.

The presentation given to MLAs, however, states the independent members’ caucus would give MLAs “the opportunity” to vote as a bloc.

Testart said on Thursday he believed that if a group of regular MLAs who voted together existed, cabinet would take them more seriously.

“Any parliamentary system is a numbers game. Whoever has the most seats wins votes, can pass budgets, can defeat confidence motions,” he said.

“If there is a very clear group of members working together with a clear set of numbers behind them, they can leverage that to advance issues. And right now, there’s no expectation that regular members vote together.”

Thursday’s speakers did not say how many members would need to join the caucus.

The 20th Legislative Assembly has already seen a majority of regular MLAs vote in unison on a variety of issues.

For example, they have passed a slew of motions including backing a wildfire public inquiry, providing funding for temporary housing in Enterprise and calling for an audit of the NWT’s health authority.

Testart asserted that regular members usually only vote together on “non-controversial or non-substantive issues” and that the current system allows them to have “small wins.”

“What we’re saying is small wins aren’t good enough any more,” he said.

‘Untapped potential’ to work with cabinet

Three other regular MLAs who attended Thursday’s press conference said they do not plan to join the independent members’ caucus.

Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan, Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Denny Rodgers and Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse all said regular MLAs already collaborate on many of the issues raised on Thursday through the accountability and oversight committee.

Morgan said it was difficult to see how the proposed new committee would be different, other than forming a voting bloc, which she said “does not sit well” with her.

“Either they’re going to find a bunch of like-minded souls who already happen to agree on all the issues, and therefore commit to vote in the same way on these different issues and proposals and priorities,” she said, “or you’ll end up with people in the room who don’t agree with the rest of the group but then are pressured to set aside their own views or principles – or what the priorities of their constituents are – in order to vote with the group.”

Morgan said she would not agree to the latter, while the “hard work of consensus government” is done in committees that include people with different perspectives who are able to challenge others on their assumptions.

Morgan added that regular MLAs have “many tools available” to work with cabinet. She said, for example, that ministers have attended MLAs’ constituency meetings and met with regular MLAs one-on-one.

“There’s a lot of untapped potential there to have regular members work better with cabinet, and there’s many of us who are doing our best to navigate through that and continue to find better ways,” she said.

MLAs ran as independent members

Rodgers, who is chair of the accountability and oversight committee, said he has “nothing but respect” for other MLAs and will continue to work with them if they form an independent members’ caucus.

He said, however, that he does not intend to join as the 33 communities across the NWT are unique.

“We’re very diverse, so to join a caucus that votes as a bloc or votes with one voice through consensus would be difficult for, I think, independent members that ran in the consensus system to be an independent member,” he said.

“Oftentimes you are going to get issues from regions that may have negative effects on other regions. There’s no way, because you know you’re representing your riding, that you could vote for that.”

He said while it can be difficult to get all 11 MLAs on the existing committee to agree, that’s how the NWT’s consensus government system works. He asserted that the committee does keep government accountable while allowing MLAs to represent their constituents.

“I help my colleagues in their ridings, I work with them, I work with members of cabinet, I have a very good relationship with cabinet,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I was elected by Inuvik Boot Lake and that’s who I’m here representing.”

Morse said he would not completely close the door to joining the proposed caucus and is curious to hear from his constituents. For now, however, he has no plans to become a member.

“When I ran for the election it was as an independent,” he said.

“Changing that significantly, I would need to feel that I’ve got a strong mandate from my constituents to do that.”