The Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories convened in Inuvik – above the latitudinal treeline and thus away from the fires – on 28 August, though most MLAs had logged on remotely via Zoom because the fires had forced many of them had to flee the territory and take refuge in Alberta.

The Legislative Assembly met yesterday afternoon and passed three bills: one postponing the general election, another amending the Emergency Management Act, and a third Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures) No 2 to cover the costs of evacuating residents and containing the fires.[1] The Speaker mentioned that “The Commissioner will be asked to assent in writing to the bills you passed today.”[2] I can therefore only presume that the Commissioner of Northwest Territories, Margaret Thom, swiftly granted these three bills Royal Assent by written declaration yesterday.

Bill 97 amended the Elections and Plebiscites Act as follows:

1. In this Act, “2023 general election” means the election following the expiry of the term of the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly or the dissolution of that Assembly.

2. Notwithstanding subsection 39(5) of the Elections and Plebiscites Act, polling day for the 2023 general election must be November 14, 2023.[3]

This legislation simply exempts the general election of 2023 from the normal schedule which fixes the date of general elections on the first Monday of every fourth October, starting in 2007, and delays it six weeks until Tuesday, 14 November 2023. (This election will take place on a Tuesday instead of a Monday because of the statutory holiday for Remembrance Day). The wording of section 1 takes two possibilities into account: automatic dissolution by efflux of time (“the expiry of the term of the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly”), as occurred in 2015 and 2011[4]; or, alternatively, dissolution by proclamation (“or the dissolution of that Assembly:), where the Commissioner dissolves the Legislative Assembly on the advice of the Legislative Assembly itself under the federal Northwest Territories Act, as happened in 2019.[5]

Deputy Premier Diane Archie explained the rationale of Bill 97 as follows:

“If passed, the election date will be changed from Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023, to Tuesday, November 14th, 2023. This bill has been brought forward on the recommendation of the chief electoral officer and at the direction of Members. It recognizes the current situation in the territories in that in more than half of the territory, an election could not be run safely starting next week as required by law.”[6]

Caucus Member Kevin O’Reilly (i.e., an MLA not part of the Executive Council) raised the possibility that the Legislative Assembly would have to meet later to delay the date of the general election once more if the fires gobbling up Northwest Territories continue raging into October during what will become the mandatory writ period; he pointed out that some fires smoldered near Fort Simpson well into October last year.[7] O’Reilly also suggested that the Legislative Assembly pass a general amendment to the Elections and Plebiscites Act “to provide for some emergency contingency provisions” for delaying a general election. In fairness, section 42 of the legislation already allows the Commissioner to withdraw writs in ridings affected by “flood, fire, or other disaster” on the recommendation of the Chief Electoral Officer.[8] But perhaps the legislature could amend section 42 to allow the Commissioner to delay the general election as a whole under similar circumstances for up x number of days. While the Legislative Assembly has, strictly speaking, left itself the option of reconvening one last time in mid-October, MLAs did not further discuss outright either of the suggestions that O’Reilly made and adopted Bill 97 unanimously immediately after his statement.

Mr. O’Reilly raised the possibility that the Legislative Assembly would have to reconvene once more before dissolving for the general election. He asked Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek whether cabinet (Northwest Territorian MLAs still use this term informally) plans on resorting to special warrants during the caretaker period “between the end of this Assembly and the election of the next Cabinet.”[9] Wawzonek acknowledged the possibility that the ongoing crisis might require additional supplementary appropriations and that cabinet would table such legislation “if there is a late September sitting.”[10]

The Speaker concluded at the end of yesterday’s sitting that “the second session of the 19^th Assembly stands adjourned until Thursday, October 12^th, 2023 at 1:30 p.m.”[11] Section 39(2)(c) of the territorial Elections and Plebiscites Act states that the writ for a general election must last at least 29 days; with polling day on 14 November, this means that the 19^th Legislative Assembly would dissolve by efflux of time on Monday, 16 October. The Legislative Assembly has therefore given itself the option of convening for one last emergency sitting before the election on 12 and 13 October. That way, the Legislative Assembly could pass another supplementary appropriations bill so that the Executive Council does not need to issue Special Warrants during the election.

Similar Posts: 

• Consensus Government and Dissolving the Legislature in Northwest Territories (August 2023)
• Dissolution by Efflux of Time: The Courts Uphold the Correct Interpretation of Fixed-Date Election Laws for the Fifth Time Since 2009 (December 2021)
• Consensus Government & Confirmation Voting in Nunavut (November 2021)
• Bowden, James W.J. “The Authorities of the Territorial Commissions: Responsible Government in Yukon versus Consensus Government in Northwest Territories and Nunavut.” Presentation to the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada’s Fourth Conference, “The Crown in a Time of Transition,” 14 June 2019, Toronto, Ontario.

Notes

[1] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023.

[2] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at page 34.

[3] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, Bill 97: An Act to Postpone Polling Day for the 2023 General Election, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Monday, 28 August 2023.

[4] The absence of a proclamation in the Northwest Territories Gazette necessarily means that these assemblies dissolved automatically by efflux of time, in accordance with the territorial Elections and Plebiscites Act.

[5] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, “Motion: 44-18(3): Dissolution of the 18^th Legislative Assembly, Carried,” Hansard, 18^th Assembly, 3^rd Session, Friday, 23 August 2019, at page 6436; Northwest Territories Gazette, Part II, Volume 40, Number 8, “Dissolution Order (2019),” SI 008-2019, 31 August 2019, at page 201.

[6] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, “Second Reading of Bills – Bill 97: An Act to Postpone Polling Day for the 2023 General Election, Carried,” Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at page 19.

[7] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, “Second Reading of Bills – Bill 97: An Act to Postpone Polling Day for the 2023 General Election, Carried,” Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at page 19-20.

[8] Elections and Plebiscites Act, SNWT 2006, c. 15, at section 42.

[9] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, “Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters,” Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at pages 6-7.

[10] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, “Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters,” Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at page 7.

[11] Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, Unedited Hansard, 19^th Assembly, 2^nd Session, Day 161, Monday, 28 August 2023, at page 35.