Familiar faces will return to Parliament after federal election

Monday’s federal election may have been a nailbiter, but northerners can expect to see some familiar faces returning to Parliament.

Gary Anandasangaree won the Toronto-area riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park with more than 62 per cent of the votes cast, as of midnight. As Crown-Indigenous relations and northern affairs minister, he has played a major role representing the federal government in the North.

In March, he was in Ottawa with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk and Premier P.J. Akeeagok to sign the renewal of the Nunavut Agreement.

Patty Hajdu, the Liberal MP for Thunder Bay—Superior North also cruised to victory. She had been minister of Indigenous services, the department that oversees important programs like the Inuit Child First Initiative and Jordan’s Principle.

Dominic LeBlanc won his 10th election, easily taking more than 60 per cent of the vote in his riding as of midnight. LeBlanc served short stints as finance minister at the tail end of Justin Trudeau’s government and Mark Carney’s brief government, leading up to the election.

He has held eight cabinet positions but Nunavummiut might best remember him from his time as Minister of Northern Affairs, responsible for the Arctic and programs like Nutrition North.

Bill Blair, the minister of National Defence, won an easy victory in his Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest. As minister, he worked closely with the Government of Nunavut as concern over Arctic sovereignty grew over the past few years. In March, Blair was in Iqaluit and announced the Liberal government’s plan to build three military support hubs in Canada’s Arctic, including one in Iqaluit.

Former housing minister and Liberal Nova MP Sean Fraser was on the ropes early on in the evening but as the night progressed, he closed the gap and eventually took the riding with over 50 per cent of the vote as of midnight.

Bob Zimmer, Conservative MP for Prince George–Peace River–Northern Rockies and northern affairs critic, trounced his opponents garnering nearly 75 per cent of the vote by midnight.

Leah Gazan, the incumbent NDP for Winnipeg Centre, narrowly held on for a victory. Gazan and Nunavut MP Lori Idlout have been allies on Indigenous issues in Parliament. With more than 60 per cent of polls reporting at 1 a.m., it looked like fellow NDP candidate Niki Ashton would lose her seat.

Some fresh new faces representing Canada’s north were unofficially elected also.

Brendan Hanley, Liberal candidate for Yukon, had a tentative lead with 50 per cent of the vote at midnight; Rebecca Alty also for the Liberals won Northwest Territories, and Philip Earle won Labrador succeeding Liberal MP Yvonne Jones, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of northern affairs, who decided not to run in this election.