Bill Riddell to run for NDP

After an enthusiastic start, Nunavut’s New Democratic Party candidate Amanda Ford-Rogers backed out of the Jan. 23 federal election race just before Christmas.

Bill Riddell, Nunavut’s NDP candidate in the 2004 election, has stepped in to take her place.

“She hadn’t registered with Elections Canada yet so there was no harm done,” Riddell said this past Tuesday.

Ford-Rogers changed her mind after considering the substantial commitment that a federal election campaign would require — especially if she won, Riddell said.

With that in mind, Riddell said, she decided to “save it for another time.”

In the spring election in 2004, Riddell took 15 per cent of the vote, just behind independent candidate Manitok Thompson.

“This time I have a better handle on some of the issues that need to be addressed,” Riddell said.

Riddell has lived in Iqaluit for the past 23 years. He originally moved north to teach social work at Nunavut Arctic College. Eventually, he became a justice of the peace, and then a residential tenancies officer, handling conflicts between landlords and tenants.