'Well-being' will be top priority, new member says

Both voters and candidates in Repulse and Kugaaruk are breathing a sigh of relief this week. Their election from hell is finally over – and John Ningark is the victor.

It took nearly seven months from start to finish, but on March 2, they elected Ningark to represent Akulliq riding in the Nunavut legislative assembly.

Along the way they endured:

• a false start when Jack Anawak was ruled ineligible to run in the general election because he had not lived in Nunavut a full 12 months prior to the election;
• an unsuccessful appeal by Anawak of the ruling;
• a constitutional challenge by Anawak to the ruling, also unsuccessful;
• a Dec. 15 by-election, caused by the delay over the appeals, that ended in a two-vote lead by Ningark over former MLA Steve Mapsalak;
• a mandatory recount because the difference between the top contenders was less than two per cent;
• a tied vote after the recount; and
• the second – and decisive – by-election, held March 2.

"It's all about patience," Ningark told the people of Repulse Bay and Kugaaruk. "Be patient," he said. "We'll get there."

They did, and Ningark did, and now, he told Nunatsiaq News, "I'm happy. I'm very, very happy."

"Yesterday I told my wife and family, that whether I win or not, it's over and I can start my life again. Instead of just waiting, waiting."

This time Ningark managed to beat the incumbent MLA, Steve Mapsalak of Repulse Bay, by 14 votes in a count of 193 to 179.

That's a difference of nearly eight per cent, meaning no recount is required and the vote is considered final. There were no spoiled ballots.

So when Ningark starts his life again, it will be as the new, and third, member for Akulliq.

A recount is required by the Nunavut elections act if the difference between the winner and the second-place finisher is less than two per cent.

Ovide Alakanuark, who served as Akulliq's MLA during the Nunavut government's first term, was the third-place finisher this time, with 83 votes. Sixty-six people voted for Helena Malliki, who placed fourth.

Ningark is no stranger to territorial politics. He sat as an MLA in the old Northwest Territories legislature between 1989 to 1999, up until division and the creation of Nunavut.

But it has been a while, Ningark said, and "I may be a little rusty. So I'm not really interested in a cabinet position at this point in time."

His priority, he said, will be to get a piece of the federal Conservative government's infrastructure pie for the riding.

The feds are giving some money to the Arctic for infrastructure, he said. "That's good. It means jobs."

"Sovereignty is a big issue," he said. "But we should make the well being of the people of the Arctic an even bigger issue."

The 521 people who showed up at the polls – 78 per cent of the eligible voters – marked an increase of nearly 12 per cent over the 466 who voted in the first by-election.