How the North was won
From Labrador to Yukon, five ridings up for grabs
Yvonne Jones, centre, has been re-elected in Labrador. (Photo courtesy of KIA)
The North will send a variety of representatives to the 44th Parliament, but none of them are poised to be Conservative.
Five ridings from Yukon to Labrador appeared to elect three Liberal candidates, a New Democrat and a Bloc Quebecois member. Not only did a Conservative not win in northern Canada, but the party only placed second in one race — in Labrador — as of early Tuesday morning, with official results not yet in.
Monday’s results are essentially a repeat of the federal parties’ standings from the 2019 election.
For the Conservatives, this means the party has not won a seat in the North since 2011.
Two Liberal seats will come from the west. In the Yukon, final results have yet to be declared but Brendan Hanley, the former chief medical officer for the territory, was leading the NDP’s Lisa Vollans-Leduc. Longtime Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnall did not run again in Monday’s election.
Meanwhile, Michael Mcleod, the incumbent and Liberal candidate in the Northwest Territories, is leading NDP candidate Kelvin Kotchilea.
The other Liberal candidate re-elected in the North goes east, as Yvonne Jones, an Inuk woman, was re-elected in Labrador.
In Nunavut, Lori Idlout keeps the territory in the NDP’s hands. After Mumilaaq Qaqqaq decided not run for re-election, Idlout defeated Liberal candidate and former MLA Pat Angnakak.
When the 44th Parliament assembles in Ottawa, the issues the northern candidates championed will be clear as well: housing, climate change, health care and reconciliation. These issues are popular talking points throughout the country, and they carry particular prominence in the North.
I’m very pleased to see Yvonne Jones will hold her seat, while Mumilaaq will no longer be a member of the House.
That’s interesting.
What’s more interesting is how the Nunatsiavut Government just curbstomped the Nunatukavut Land Claim.
What is even more interesting than that is now ITK will not formally recognize Yvonne Jones as an Inuk.
And what is even more interesting than even that is how Natan Obed was widely perceived to be soft-campaigning for Pat up here – the only non-Inuk in the Nunavut race.
Very interesting.
I’ll be honest with you, I am completely bored and uninterested with the obsession over quantum of race.
For me, seeing Jones win, and Mumilaaq defeated (ultimately, by herself) says something much larger about what it takes to succeed in the world, and seeing it pleases me.
That’s ok, Inuit issues are not really any of your business anyway.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it slightly differently this time – the armchair Nunatsiaq commenters are losing their already limited influence.
🙁