Charest goes to polls with promise unkept

Nunavimmiut will face another election when Quebeckers go to the polls ­Monday, Dec. 8 to chose a new provincial government.

But voters in Nunavik, which is lumped into the sprawling Ungava riding, still won't have their own electoral riding, despite repeated promises from the current Liberal government of Premier Jean Charest.

Last December, at the signing of the agreement-in-principle on self-government in Quebec City, Charest vowed once again that he would create "a northern riding" for Nunavik, which would "consecrate the link between Inuit people and all of Quebec."

Ungava, Quebec's largest riding when measured by area, stretches from Ivujivik in the north to Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Chibougamou in the south, with many Inuit, Cree and francophone communities lying in between.

But the thinly populated riding contains only about 23,000 voters.

Luc Ferland of the Parti Québécois, who represents Ungava, supported a plan to create a separate riding for Nunavik.

And Ferland does not support Charest's recent election call, saying it isn't a good time for an election.

"Right now Quebec is feeling the impact of the unprecedented financial crisis, yet the Liberal government of Charest has nothing better to do than call an election," said Ferland, who plans to run again to represent Ungava.

But when Charest called the election on Nov. 5, he said the time was ripe.

"I also know in my heart and in my soul that, as we look ahead, we're facing an economic storm and that we need, as Quebeckers, to prepare. And that we can't face an economic storm with three different pairs of hands on the rudder of our ship," Charest told reporters.

"In the end, though, there's an issue that the world cannot escape. It's not just about Quebec. The whole world right now is facing this economic situation and it includes us. And so we have to ask ourselves who will be at that helm when we face this storm."

Charest said he wanted a "clear mandate" to govern. Since the March 2007 election, his Liberals have been in a minority position, holding only 48 of the legislature's 125 seats, compared with 39 for the Action Démocratique du Québec and 36 for the PQ. Two seats are vacant.

Some in Nunavik fear that the election call will delay several developments in Nunavik, including the official creation of the region's second provincial park, Kuururjuaq, near Kangiqsualujjuaq.

Nunavik will also have a new provincial native affairs minister to break in after the election because Benoît Pelletier, the current minister, is not running again.