Karetak-Lindell to seek third term in Ottawa

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell says she wants to contest her seat in the upcoming federal election, and she’s prepared to wage a battle for the Liberal nomination.

In an interview this week, Karetak-Lindell confirmed she wants to stay in federal politics and laid to rest rumours that she will run for a seat in the Nunavut legislative assembly.

“I have no intention of running in the territorial election,” she said. “Yes, people have asked me and wondered if I was interested, if I was going to go over to the territorial election, but at this point and time, no.”

She said Parliament Hill is still exciting for her, and, with her family’s support, she wants to return for a third term.

“The way I’ve been doing my job, it’s been a different job, really, every term. So I’m definitely going to try and win my seat back as a federal MP,” she said.

But, though her relationship with Paul Martin goes back to her first term, when he was minister of finance, she knows that he has no plans to protect incumbents. And she knows she may have competition for the Liberal nomination.

“I could. That’s a reality and I accept that,” she said.

In the meantime, however, she will observe the Nunavut territorial election from Ottawa without getting involved.

“I feel it’s a time for people to make decisions about who’s right for their community, and I have to work with whoever gets in there,” she said.

“We all have to put aside our personal feelings and work for the future of Nunavut. As large as the territory is, it’s really a small community. I don’t believe that elected people should put their personal views ahead of what is right for the territory, and I think we have to learn to work together no matter what our personal views might be.”

In 1997, Karetak-Lindell took 47.2 per cent of the vote in Nunavut, comfortably ahead of her nearest rival, Hunter Tootoo, who ran for the New Democrats and took 24.6 per cent of the vote, but by a considerably thinner margin than Jack Anawak, her Liberal predecessor.

In 2000, she won by an overwhelming margin, with 68.5 of the vote. Her nearest competitor, Palluq Susan Enuaraq of the NDP, took just 18.6 per cent.