Karetak-Lindell wins third term

SARA MINOGUE

Nunavut’s Liberal incumbent, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, said she was “relieved” on Monday night as election results made her the clear front-runner with 51 per cent of the vote.

Independent candidate Manitok Thompson came in second, with 16.2 per cent of the ballots cast, followed closely by New Democratic Party candidate Bill Riddell with 15.3 per cent.

Duncan Cunningham, running for the Conservative party, came a close fourth with 14.5 per cent of the vote, while Green party candidate Nedd Kenney won just 2.9 per cent. At press time, two polling stations had not reported final results.

Karetak-Lindell listened to the results at her sister Sally Kusugak’s home in Rankin Inlet, enjoying tea and pie with her parents, two sisters, three of her four sons, nephews, granddaughters and friends.

She was on the edge of her seat as Western Arctic Liberal incumbent Ethel Blondin-Andrew lagged behind NDP candidate Dennis Bevington Monday night. Blondin-Andrew eventually won her seat by a margin of just 50 votes.

National results show that the Liberal party will form a minority government. Karetak-Lindell admits that there will be new challenges, but does not believe this will affect her ability to represent Nunavut.

“We’re going to have to learn to work within the situation that we have,” she said. “There are quite a few cabinet ministers who didn’t come back so it’s going to be some new faces.”

Thompson watched the results come in with her husband, taking only one short break to eat eggs with some neighbors. “I think it’s very impressive for working out of my kitchen,” she said from her home in Rankin Inlet.

“If I’d had the money to travel to all the communities I think an independent would be the next MP up here,” she said. “It’s a very good feeling that a lot of people trusted me to be an MP and a lot of those people didn’t care about the party.”

Early in the evening, Conservative candidate Duncan Cunningham sat riveted to the TV in the Discovery Lodge in Iqaluit, surrounded by family members, a handful of loyal supporters, and a buffet table stacked with enough snacks for at least 10 times as many people.

Cunningham looked nervous and excited as the first report of the night showed him with a five-vote lead. Final results showed a strong showing, compared to the 2000 election when the Conservative candidate won just 8.2 per cent of the vote.

Cunningham says he had hoped to do better, but he admits that people many have been reluctant to vote for a Conservative party that did not clearly define all of its positions — especially those affecting northern and aboriginal policy.

Bill Riddell of the NDP, was also disappointed, but said that he will be back next time. From his perspective, the political debate created by five candidates in the riding was a good step for Nunavut.

“People here in Nunavut are new to party politics,” Riddell says. “That was made very clear during the debate when an elder asked us what the differences are between the parties.”

Green Party candidate Nedd Kenney did not make such a strong showing. His win echoes the 4.5 per cent won by his predecessor in 2000, who competed with three other candidates versus this year’s four. Nationally, however, the party won enough votes to guarantee access to federal campaign money for the next election.

Voter turnout is still a major issue. In the 2000 election, Nunavut had one of the lowest voter turnouts at 54 per cent, higher only than the Northwest Territories, which saw only a 52 per cent turnout. Early results this year show just 42 per cent turnout.

Riddell attributes this partly to the timing of the election.

“Out of 25 or 26 communities, only 10 communities had advance polls at a time when a lot of people were going out on the land, teachers were moving out, and I think that affected the turnout, but I don’t know to what degree.”