August is an unusual month for MLAs SA国际影视传媒� itSA国际影视传媒檚 the only one without any scheduled sittings or committee meetings, and it may not entail any constituency work.
At the end of July, SA国际影视传媒 reached out to all regular MLAs, asking how they plan to keep busy in August. Several automatic "I am out of office" replies came back, and only one member responded.
"It's a weird job that we have, and sometimes it's unclear how it all works," said Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart. "So I totally get that there's frustration where people are saying, 'Where are you? What are you doing?'"
Northwest Territories MLAs are in session for about 36 days per year, although the number of days in session can be increased annually, if MLAs deem it necessary. So far this fiscal year, they have sat for 6.5 days. The first session day is only a half day, and all session days took place in May. That's when MLAs are generally most visible. When they're not in session, MLAs also have what's called constituency work, which is not mandatory, but offers members a chance to meet with people in their riding and hear their concerns.
Testart said constituency work never really stops, regardless of whether MLAs are in session.
"We're always getting concerns from the community," he said.
There's also committee weeks. Committees, according to the GNWT, allow members to look at issues in more detail. For example, the standing committee on social development examines issues related to the departments of Education, Health and Social Services, Housing NWT and Justice. On Aug. 14, that committee will be briefed by Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland on education supports.
Testart said he'd be in favour of more sitting days.
"I would like to see the May-June sitting expanded," he said, he said of the period which sees a total of seven sitting days. "That's not enough time to get anything done. So I think we should have at least two or three weeks in May [and] June [in session], right before the summer."
Testart said he wants those extra days because it would give regular MLAs more time to question cabinet ministers and hold the GNWT to account. He added it would also provide additional time to work on legislation and introduce more bills, both for regular members and ministers.
As for ministers, the GNWT posts a weekly advisory listing activities that ministers have scheduled. For the week of Aug. 5-11, the GNWT highlighted three ministers who were busy. Environment and Climate Change Minister Jay Macdonald was in St. JohnSA国际影视传媒檚, NL, to attend the Canada Summer Games. Minister Vince McKay, who holds four portfolios, including Municipal and Community Affairs, was also in St. John's to attend a sport, physical activity and recreation conference.
Minister Caroline Wawzonek, who also oversees multiple portfolios, including Finance, met with Nunastar SA国际影视传媒� the company that recently purchased the lower half of centre square mall SA国际影视传媒� on Aug. 7 in Yellowknife.
Asked if he thinks there are any MLAs who do nothing during August, when there are no formal commitments, Testart said he couldnSA国际影视传媒檛 comment on what his colleagues do.
"You do as much as you want to SA国际影视传媒� that's kind of how the job works in our system," he said. "If you want to pound the pavement and knock on doors, like we like to do, you certainly can. Do you want to stay at home and take a vacation? You can do that too."
According to the Yukon legislative assembly, it sits for a maximum of 60 days per calendar year. From 2002-2019, Yukon MLAs sat for 982 days, an average of 54.6 days in session per calendar year.
In British Columbia, the legislative assembly is in session for 66 days in a calendar year.
But simply having more legislative sitting days might not be enough to address the challenges the GNWT faces, at least according to one former MLA.
Bill Braden, who was Great Slave MLA from 1999-2007, said committee meetings, strategy sessions and even one-on-one discussions between ministers and MLAs all play important roles in tackling some of the territory's biggest challenges, like housing shortages and addictions.
He also said the work of government never stops, regardless of whether committees are meeting or MLAs are in session.
"Just looking at the number of sitting days is not necessarily a measure of how much can or should be done," said Braden.
MLAs are expected to be back in session in October, when they're scheduled to sit for 10 days that month.
