N.W.T. MLAs take complaint about premier to conflict commissioner

Some Northwest Territories MLAs have filed a complaint about Premier Floyd Roland to the territory's conflict of interest commissioner.

The letter, signed by Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay and five other backbench MLAs, asks commissioner Gerald Gerrand to investigate whether Roland crossed the line when he failed to make public his romantic relationship with a legislative assembly clerk.

The MLAs' request was dated Friday. Gerrand was not available to comment Wednesday.

Concerned MLAs said the assembly clerk had sat in on some of their committee meetings, raising concerns she might have shared confidential information from those meetings with the premier.

Since regular MLAs attempted unsuccessfully to remove Roland and his cabinet with a no-confidence vote on Feb. 6, some have said they felt betrayed by Roland's initial refusal to disclose his relationship, which they believe created a pipeline of information from their meetings to cabinet.