Ron Elliott 'shocked' that others didn't enter race

Ron Elliott, who is running for MLA in the Quttiktuq riding in the Oct. 27 territorial election, would really prefer some company in this race, instead of the hard and lonely task of taking on the incumbent, Levi Barnabas.

Elliott and Barnabas are both from Arctic Bay, so this time there won't be any vote-splitting among the riding's three communities – and this may actually hurt Elliott's election chances because he's not well-known outside Arctic Bay.

"I was shocked as I expected another person from Arctic Bay to run and people from Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord to run," Elliott, an Arctic Bay educator, said in a recent telephone interview.

In the 2004 territorial election, there were six candidates in the race. Even then, it was the candidate with the most family and friends outside of his or her home community who had the best chance of winning.

"Levi is definitely the person people know, and people sometimes don't vote for the person they don't know," said Elliott, who plans to visit Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord by Oct. 27.

Barnabas, also from Arctic Bay, has represented the riding off and on since 1999.

Elliott, 38, an adult educator at Nunavut Arctic College, has lived in Nunavut since 1991, spending nearly all that time in Arctic Bay, where everyone knows him well.

Elliott has never sat on Arctic Bay's hamlet council, but he's been active in the community as a member of its economic development committee, drug and alcohol education committee and recreation committee, and the local district education authority.

Elliott said too often people sit around and wait for others to solve their problems.

"From what I see in Nunavut, we have the ability to grow and the wisdom to make changes. It is entirely up to us. My running is part of this change," Elliott said.

Elliott said youth are focus of his current campaign. Arctic Bay has been had hit recently with two youth suicides, and he'd like to see more educational support, jobs and recreational opportunities for youth.

"My first goal is to get as many people between 18 and 32 to vote. I don't really care who they vote for. It would be nice if they decided to vote for me," Elliott said. "If we get a huge majority of youth voting, then whoever goes down to Iqaluit can say the youth in the High Arctic are not happy. Actions speak louder than words."

Elliott takes on Barnabas, 44, first elected to the legislature in the Northwest Territories in 1995.

Returned to sit in the first Nunavut legislature in 1999, Barnabas resigned in 2000 as MLA after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman after an evening of bar-hopping and house partying in Iqaluit.

Barnabas then ran in the by-election to select his successor, but was rebuffed in his effort to regain his old seat, coming in third with only 73 votes.

Barnabas made a comeback, winning over Rebekah Williams in the 2004 Nunavut election, when he received 45 per cent of the vote.

Last March, Barnabas was named to cabinet to replace David Simailak, where he took over responsibility for human resources and workers compensation.

Speaking from his home in Arctic Bay, Barnabas said he will continue to fight hard for the residents of his riding if he's re-elected.

"I tried my best. I could do better," Barnabas said. "I always try to meet the needs of the riding. Not all of the needs are addressed, but many are underway."

His priorities include fighting for more recognition and support for the High Arctic relocatees who moved from North Baffin and Nunavik in the early 1950s to help assert Canada's sovereignty over the High Arctic.

The relocatees received $10 million and some acknowledgement from the federal government for theirs hardships in 1995. But they're now faced with life in communities faced with high costs of living and the impacts of global warming, he said.

"Why isn't the government subsidizing the costs where they live? It's so expensive," Barnabas said.

Vowing he will seek more competition in air service to Arctic Bay, which is only served by First Air, Barnabas said "when there's no competition there's no choice."

If re-elected, he also promised to fight for improvements to infrastructure in the riding's communities, whose hamlets are hard-pressed to pay even a small percentage of the cost for badly-needed projects.

And, if the new crop of MLAs approve of how he did his job in cabinet during the last session, Barnabas said he'd be up to sitting in cabinet again.