Harper campaign to hit Nunavut with evening pit-stop in Iqaluit

Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets supporters in Iqaluit during a visit on Feb. 23, 2012 as the Conservative senator for Nunavut, Dennis Patterson, looks on. Harper is due to fly into Iqaluit from Hay River late in the afternoon of Aug. 14 for a campaign event in the evening, where he’ll help Conservative candidate Leona Aglukkaq launch her campaign for re-election. (FILE PHOTO)

Updated 4:20 p.m., Aug. 14

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking his carefully orchestrated campaign tour to Iqaluit for a quick visit late in the day Aug. 14, a Conservative spokesperson said.

“He will spend the morning and midday in Hay River, NWT and then travel to Iqaluit for a late afternoon/evening program,” the Conservative campaign’s communication advisor, Chris Day, said in an embargoed email to media Aug. 12.

This will be Harper’s first visit to Iqaluit since August 2014, when he stopped in towards the end of his annual northern tour last summer to play floor hockey at Nakasuk School.

During that visit, he helped promote two youth fitness events organized by Canadian Tire Corp. and Project North, who donated 100 bags of hockey equipment for local kids.

Harper’s plane was expected to arrive in Iqaluit at around 4:50 p.m. He will speak 7:35 p.m. at the Hotel Arctic, in an event with Conservative candidate Leona Aglukkaq, who is defending her seat for a third time.

Also, invitations to an event at the Tower Arctic building, number 1502 on Federal Rd., have been circulating in Iqaluit.

In a Facebook post Aug. 13, Aglukkaq got her 2015 re-election effort going with the slogan “Proven leadership for a strong Nunavut,” which echoes the Conservatives’ “proven leadership” slogans.

“As the first Inuk ever appointed to the federal cabinet, I have been bringing the issues of northerners and Inuit to the forefront of Ottawa’s agenda,” Aglukkaq said in her statement.

“I am proud to say that it was our Conservative government that ensured the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was implemented, introduced training programs to create opportunities for all, and made standing up for the seal and polar bear hunt a national priority.”

She also said the Conservative government has made “record investments” in infrastructure, social services, and skills training and got rid of the unpopular long gun registry.

“I look forward to having a healthy and respectful debate during the campaign about the issues that matter to Nunavummiut,” Aglukkaq said.

Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo lashed out at Harper and Aglukkaq in a statement Aug. 14, accusing them of “secrecy, control and manipulation.”

Calling them “two special visitors to Iqaluit,” Tootoo said the two Conservatives are refusing to listen to northerners.

“Nunavummiut have legitimate concerns about issues that matter to people here: food security, murdered and missing indigenous women, housing shortages, suicide prevention, the environment, mental health and basic critical infrastructure in our communities, but Aglukkaq and the Harper Conservatives refuse to listen,” Tootoo said, adding that he challenges Aglukkaq to a debate.

Harper’s chartered Boeing 737-400 jet has whisked him this week through Ontario to a series of announcement events and photo-ops in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, where he campaigned Aug. 13 with five Conservative incumbents defending seats in that city.

Harper arrived in Hay River this morning, where the incumbent member, Dennis Bevington of the New Democratic Party, is defending the Northwest Territories seat against a challenge mounted by Conservative Floyd Roland, the former NWT premier.

In Hay River, Harper announced $14 million to pay for the chip-sealing of a 68-km section of road that runs through Wood Buffalo National Park, located near Bevington’s hometown of Fort Smith.

Predictably, Bevington mocked Harper’s northern strategy, saying the quality of life for many northern people has declined under the Conservative government.

“The Conservatives use northerners as backdrops for their photo-ops but their northern strategy has done more harm than good,” Bevington said in a statement Aug. 13.

He also dumped on the Conservatives for the Nutrition North Canada program, repeating criticisms he has made many times in the past.

And he attacked the Tories for voting down an NDP proposal that would have added about 50 communities to the NNC air freight subsidy program.

“Their failed Nutrition North program has driven up the cost of groceries, and doesn’t even get to all communities in need,” Bevington.

And he questioned the strength of their commitment to build a port in Iqaluit, saying it “has no timeline for funding, is contingent on meeting multiple funding criteria under the Building Canada fund and the completion a contribution agreement with the Nunavut government.”

“Northerners are still waiting for fulfillment of past promises,” Bevington said.

In the NWT, ex-MLA Michael McLeod will contest the seat for the Liberals and Bob Stewart will run for the Libertarian Party.

In Nunavut, veteran MLA Hunter Tootoo is running under the Liberal banner and Spencer Rocchi will run for the Green party.

The NDP have not yet announced a candidate for Nunavut.

The 78-day campaign, the longest in Canada since 1876, will end on election day, Oct. 19