Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty was expelled from the house on Wednesday after refusing to apologize and withdraw his statements alleging the premier broke the law.
During assembly, speaker Frederick Blake Jr. showed Lafferty the door once he refused to retract his allegations that Premier Caroline Cochrane broke the law and misled MLAs over the firing of Aurora College president Tom Weegar.
Instead of doing so, Lafferty doubled down.
“It was never my intention to scandalize this house. I’m sorry if (my words) caused my fellow MLA discomfort. Truth and integrity, however, are more important than her feelings,” he told MLAs in reference to Cochrane.
Nick Pearce/NNSL photo
The dismissal follows Blake's original Tuesday demand that Lafferty apologize. But there were no Tlicho interpreters working that day, so Lafferty refused to make a statement, arguing it was his right to speak and be understood in his language.
In discussion Wednesday, several MLAs supported Lafferty’s right to respond in Tlicho, with some noting the house would have shut down if a member was unable to make statements in English.
Lafferty had asked on Tuesday that the session be closed until an interpreter was available, but Blake refused.
That issue will now go forward to the rules and procedures committee, chaired by Frame Lake MLA Kevin O’Reilly.
Asked on Wednesday if interpreter availability could shut down future sittings, O’Reilly said in an interview that he couldn’t jump that far ahead, but that the committee would be gathering information on the issue.
After that discussion, Lafferty began to answer Blake’s demand for an apology in Tlicho, but after the speaker interrupted him, switched to English and didn't fully retract his comments.
With no apology, Blake promptly expelled him for the day.
In an interview as he left the building, Lafferty repeated comments made to Yellowknifer on Tuesday that questions remained over Weegar’s firing. Constituents have repeatedly contacted him over this issue, he said.
“(My constituents) basically said, ‘Why do you need to apologize if you’re doing right for the people of the Northwest Territories, holding government to account?',” he said.
He argued that his constituents continued to push him to question members of cabinet on the Weegar firing – an issue that other MLAs had abandoned by the end of last month.
“The truth needs to come out. It’s all about the process. When the decision was made, I felt there was still a lot of questions,” he said.
If Lafferty returns to the legislature on Thursday, he said it would be business as usual, despite his expulsion from Wednesday's proceedings.
“I spoke the truth and they didn’t want me in the house,” he said.