Cambridge Bay candidates’ debate cancelled ahead of territorial vote
Candidates express disappointment; organizer focused on moving tenants into new modular homes
Cambridge Bay MLA candidates Pamela Gross, Fred Pedersen and Peter Ohokak expressed disappointment but also understanding after an election debate set for Monday was cancelled. (Photos courtesy of Elections Nunavut)
An all-candidates debate in Cambridge Bay scheduled for Monday evening has been cancelled.
The event, organized by the Cambridge Bay Housing Association at the Luke Novoligak Community Hall, was planned to give residents an opportunity to hear directly from the three local candidates in the Oct. 27 territorial election — Pamela Hakongak Gross, Peter Ohokak and Fred Pedersen — on issues affecting the community.
The debate was cancelled due to the organization’s workload, said housing association manager Vicki Aitaok. With new modular housing units recently installed in the community, staff are focused on allocating them to residents.
“My tenants have to be my priority right now,” she said. “I’m hoping another organization will be able to pick [the debate] up.”
Aitaok said hosting the debate requires “some manpower” that wasn’t currently available, including appointing a moderator, preparing questions, and setting timers to ensure each candidate got equal speaking time.
“It would have been a great event for the voters in the community as it would have allowed them to hear directly from us three candidates on our views to the same questions,” said Pedersen via email.
“Having any undecided voters there, and them listening to the responses, I believe I could have swayed them to vote for me. Because of this, participating in it was important to me.”
Gross, the incumbent MLA, said in an email that she too was disappointed by the cancellation and was looking forward to debating Ohokak and Pedersen.
She acknowledged the volunteer effort involved, calling it a “busy time” for the organizers.
“Debates add value because they give the community a chance to hear directly from all of us in one place,” Gross said. “Even without this event, I know we’ll each keep getting out, talking with people and sharing our ideas.”
“We’re a close-knit community, so we get to engage in conversations every day and that’s something I really value,” she said.
Ohokak, who ran against Gross in the 2021 territorial election and took part in a debate that year, said voter engagement in Cambridge Bay, especially for debates, is “really good,” but he would like to see it increase.
“This was a good opportunity for everyone to see and listen to the candidates in person, but otherwise I’m just gonna continue my online campaign and continue going door to door because convincing people to get out and vote, that’s the most important thing,” he said.
Ohokak said he hopes the candidates will get the chance to speak publicly before the Oct. 27 vote, such as on local radio, because it’s important to know “what your voice is going to be like representing your community in Iqaluit.”
No community hall or school gym 🙄
The three candidates and their teams should be adult enough and competent enough to organize the debate themselves and manage it fairly.
If they cannot, they are not the sort of people needed as MLAs.
Canceling event due to staffing issues…the most nunavut thing ever
I hope the public would bring up concerns about the sheer amount of crack dealers flying in and out every week. Everyone knows the locals who are helping them picking them up from airport and bringing them to town. What is the Local Government and RCMP doing about that?
As you were probably typing that, engaging in a sweep that raided several place to round a bunch of them up.
That is seriously awesome to hear. Great job by CBHA and RCMP to work together
So, hang on here. The Housing Rep, and Association have known for over a year that the modular units were coming and going to be installed and ready for use by this fall but now cannot manage a debate because they need to “get ready” and take care of the modular business. Is it not called preparation and advance planning? No let’s wait until the last minute to decide who gets a unit just before they are ready. The only thing that housing association should be doing right now is handing over the keys to the people that should have been determined would live there long ago. I wonder when Nunavummiut are just going to have enough of this nonsense.
As another commentator already questioned, the candidates cannot organize the event. Let’s see. What did they need to pull off this colossal challenge? Huuummmm…. a place to host (community hall, rec center, townhall)…nope no places like that in town. A folding table that sits three…common we don’t have tables in CB….some chairs for them and people (voters) to sit in…nope none of those either. A Micro phone….a what? Yeah, that seems really, really complicated.
And let’s be honest. This was not going to be a “debate” it was going to be a “Town Hall” where each of the candidates tells voters for 15 minutes everything they are dreaming of, make promises they won’t keep and trying and find the soft spot for voters…. this is then followed by the audience asking questions. This was not going to be a televised debate. But all of that is mega complicated to pull off.
No wonder the Government is such a mess.
Poor cambridge bay no community hall or gym for debates or any politucal centres except for hamlet offiice. How is nunangat university going to pivk the community now. No place to or people to hold organized events. Maybe build a bridge across to the mainland before the greys bay road is built !
Big news happening in Cambridge Bay! Crack dealers being ripped out of local’s homes that have been harboring them!
How is it that the Housing Manager decides to cancel the debate over something that could wait another day or so. People were looking foward to this debate once it was announced. It seems she makes her own decisions/rules when clearly it should be up to the Housing Board of Directors. just my 2 cents
Lots of People own their jobs even be it public sector. Make there own hrs
Local housing Authority cannot be seen getting involved with politics as their funding comes from the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
I think the President of Nunavut Housing Corporation had to lay down the lay to not get involved.
LHA’s yes are their “own entity” but ultimately the Nunavut Housing Corp is their big brother.