December 18, 1998

MLAs pick Jim Antoine as new NWT premier

Nahendeh MLA Jim Antoine says concerns about corruption within the GNWT are simply a matter of public perception.

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — The new premier of the Northwest Territories vowed on his first day in office to strive toward rebuilding public confidence in government.

But in the moments following his election in the Legislative Assembly chamber, Jim Antoine stopped short of recommending any specific measures to achieve this end, other than those already taken by the House.

"My approach would be just to continue on in the way I've always done business, and my approach has been to be up front and honest," Antoine told reporters.

Instead, the new premier said he will maintain "complete trust in the bureaucracy" and let his own personal style inform his leadership.

"I've always been my own man and I've always done the things I thought was right and it worked for me. Hopefully if I can use that at cabinet level, it might influence ... more of transparency in the way this government is running."

Antoine, the MLA for Nahendeh and a seven-year veteran of the Legislative Assembly, was elected on Thursday to the office of premier following a secret ballot vote of all sitting members of the House.

A cabinet minister since 1995, Antoine previously held the public works and services, transportation and aboriginal affairs portfolios.

Before entering territorial politics in 1991, Antoine operated a private business in his home community of Fort Simpson and has been involved in the development of the Dene Nation since 1972.

He beat out fellow veteran MLA and Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Stephen Kakfwi for the premier's job.

Antoine acknowledged the past mistakes of his government, which were documented throughout the recent conflict of interest inquiry, and said the recent actions of his fellow MLAs show ample resolve to address the shortcomings the inquiry uncovered.

He insisted repeatedly that the real challenge facing the government in the remainder of its term is one of perception.

"The public perception out there is very bad, it's very negative toward this government," Antoine said.

"There's been a lot of public opinion out there as to how we can do things better. I hope to work closer with ordinary MLAs as well to get their views on how to do it."

Members recently voted to accept the findings of Conflict of Interest Commissioner Anne Crawford's report, and further directed a review of the GNWT's own conflict of interest guidelines.

That, Antoine said, is sufficient response to the report's findings.

"We realize there's been some mistakes, and hopefully we've gotten over it and that we've set things in motion to try that came out of that report."

As for former premier Don Morin, whose conduct was the intended focus of the inquiry, Antoine said that his resignation from office was punishment enough.

"As far as I'm concerned it's a dead issue," said the new premier, one of the few ministers who managed to emerge from the public inquiry relatively unscathed.