Paul Delorey accepted a second term Tuesday as Speaker of the legislative assembly in the Northwest Territories.
Delorey, a three-term MLA who was re-elected in the Hay River North district in the Oct. 1 territorial election, was nominated to the position by Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty. Delorey has been in office since 1999 and the Speaker since 2004.
He said he was persuaded to do the job by his fellow members' confidence and praise for his work over the last 3½ years.
The Northwest Territories has a consensus-based government, with Independent MLAs, the premier, Speaker and cabinet ministers, all chosen by their fellow members about two weeks after they are elected.
During Delorey's re-election campaign, some of his Hay River North constituents complained that as Speaker, he could not address constituency concerns effectively. But Delorey defended his record and defeated Hay River town Coun. Vince McKay, winning 61 per cent of the vote versus McKay's 39 per cent.
In the last assembly, he had begun changing some of rules affecting members' behaviour and the benefits they receive, such as a Yellowknife rent allowance for MLAs from districts outside the capital city who say they reside in their own districts. He said Tuesday that he intends to finish those reforms.
"I think we've come a long way in that, and now it's going to be an ongoing thing," Delorey said.
"We have some guidelines in place around the [MLA] residency issue, where members are going to be ranked a little bit different in how they can prove that they actually are entitled to some of these allowances. And so if some of that looks like a grey area a bit, then we'll be checking on them more often."
Premier, cabinet to be chosen Wednesday
As Speaker, Delorey will chair the territorial leadership meeting Wednesday during which MLAs will select a new premier. Two members to date have indicated their interest in the premier's job:
- Floyd Roland, Inuvik Boot Lake MLA, and former finance and health minister.
- Michael Miltenberger, Thebacha MLA, and former health and environment minister.
After the premier is chosen, members will also select six cabinet ministers. For that process, MLAs will have to choose their ministers based on equal regional representation, with two ministers drawn each from districts north of Great Slave Lake, south of the lake and Yellowknife.
"I owe it to my constituents to try to get into the cabinet," Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen told CBC News.
"It will remain to be seen. There are some very strong players south of the lake this time."
Groenewegen, who is starting her fourth term in office, said the backroom lobbying is intensifying as she and others vie for cabinet posts.
"I'm sure the members in the members' lounge having lunch are talking about nothing else," Groenewegen said. "We've been talking among ourselves for the last few days."
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N.W.T Votes 2007 »
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