Nunavut candidates talk cost of living, food and Arctic security in radio debate
All 3 candidates call for more infrastructure improvements in the territory to improve life and lower costs
Nunavut’s three federal election candidates joined a two-hour CBC Radio debate on Thursday. From left are Conservative James T. Arreak and New Democrat Lori Idlout in the Rankin Inlet studio and Liberal Kilikvak Kabloona in the studio in Yellowknife. (Photos courtesy of CBC North)
Updated April 20 at 8 p.m. ET
Candidates running for Nunavut’s only seat in the House of Commons were in agreement on most major election issues Thursday during a two-hour debate hosted by CBC Radio.
They addressed topics such as the cost of living, Arctic security and hunting while answering questions from Nunavummiut including former premier Paul Quassa, lawyer and activist Aaju Peter, and Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, the co-executive director of Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre in Iqaluit.
The debate was moderated by Teresa Qiatsuq, who hosts the evening news program Igalaaq. The first hour of the debate was conducted in Inuktitut and the second hour in English.
The high cost of living in the North was a dominant topic, as all the candidates agreed it’s one of the most pressing concerns for Nunavummiut.
“I think there needs to be immediate supports, and there also need to be long-term investments,” said Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona. She was the only candidate to answer questions just in English, with her responses interpreted to Inuktitut in the first half of the broadcast.
She said that although the Inuit Child First Initiative — the federal program that provides funding to Inuit children and youths for education, services and food programs — needs to be made permanent, it’s not a complete solution.
The long-term answer is to create infrastructure such as ports and airport runways that would improve the shipment of products and help reduce the cost of living, Kabloona said.
At CBC Radio’s Iqaluit studio, host Teresa Qiatsuq, at front wearing red, sits with a panel of Nunavummiut who posed questions to the three federal election candidates during a debate Thursday. From left are lawyer and activist Aaju Peter, co-executive director of Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, and former Nunavut premier Paul Quassa. (Photo courtesy of CBC North)
Both incumbent NDP MP Lori Idlout and Conservative candidate James T. Arreak agreed that while they support the Inuit Child First Initiative, there needs to be major infrastructure improvements in the territory.
Idlout said Nunavut should use the current geopolitical environment and heightened focus on the Arctic by other countries such as Russia, China and the United States, to promote the territory’s interests and get more federal government funding for airport and marine infrastructure improvements.
She pointed to her work as an MP in trying to force the government to reform Nutrition North, which provides subsidies to retailers to lower the cost of essential foods, so that the program doesn’t support “corporate greed.”
Arreak said he supports the Inuit Child First Initiative and the review of Nutrition North, which the government announced last year. He added that the high cost of living is the result of the Liberal government, supported by the NDP, implementing policies like the carbon tax.
In response to a question from Murdoch-Flowers, all three candidates agreed that hunting in Nunavut should be protected and that it is a way to ensure people have access to country food.
Arreak and Idlout noted, however, that the Liberal government’s attempts to impose stricter gun laws could interfere with that.
The candidates also discussed Arctic security, mineral exploration in the territory, and financial support for Nunavut students.
Both Kabloona and Arreak said Nunavut would benefit from having a member of Parliament who is either in government or in the official opposition.
Idlout said Nunavut would be better off with an opposition MP who will ask question and “hold government to account.”
The CBC debate was supposed to be held in-person from the Iqaluit studio, but due to flight cancellations Kabloona joined the broadcast from CBC’s Yellowknife studio while Idlout and Arreak spoke from the studio in Rankin Inlet.
The federal election is scheduled for April 28.
Note: This story was updated to correct the name of the news show hosted by debate moderator Teresa Qiatsuq
Is Yellowknife even in this riding?
No it’s not in this riding but a person must fly through Yellowknife in order to go from the Kitikmeot to other parts of Nunavut. I do believe that she was campaigning over in the Kitikmeot this week and got stuck because of weather delays in Nunavut.
The Liberal candidate was inKitikmeot communities this past week…you have to travel through Yellowknife to go there and return to Kitikmeot and Qikiqtani communities. If you were informed on candidate travel, you would know this. My, so negative!
I take it you’ve never been on an airplane or took geography.
Planes pass through YK from all over the north.
Sorry.☹️🤕😳
🎵All we hear,,,is Radio Gaga 🎵🎵
🎵🎵 Radio Goo Goo🎵🎵🤘🤘🤘
(sing with us)🥳🥳😳
Rare to see a dem and a con both smiling in the same pic. Anyway who’s our Green party candidate? Our PPC candidate? Whos our block quebecois candidate? They all got my vote.
Green Party candidate?😂
Elizabeth May all the way.🤘🌟🥳
Was not a good call in show as public had no chance to call in and ran like a broken record from inuktitut to English,
Most important none of the candidates gave me thought of my vote ,
Liberal candidate can’t even speak my language,
Not my vote time till us home owners are helped more and our younger generation…
Results are more important than language when we are looking for somebody to represent us federally. When our MP is part of the leading party we have somebody at the table to advocate for us.
Perhaps you should consider voting for the candidate that will be the member of the party in power? That way Nunavut will actually have a voice and some sort of power in what happens instead of being just a person yapping at the party in power across the floor. People don’t really understand how much goes on past that place and what one must/can do to get things done. If Nunavut has an MP that is part of the party in power then it’ll be so easy to have Nunavut heard. That MP will just need to be kept on their toes and held to account by us.
A liberal or conservative MP will become a backbencher whose voice is controlled by the party. They will not have a seat at the table, they will be used as tokens by their parties. Both the liberals and conservatives have chronically underfunded Nunavut from inception. They are not going to change their behaviours. Lori Idlout is the only Inuk voice that will actually be heard in Parliament, and she works hard to speak Inuktitut in the House of Commons as a form of resistance. Whereas the Liberal candidate cannot even speak the language of the riding she wants to represent.
It is Inuit people who have been in charge of teaching their own language for over 40 years !!!
It is Inuit people who give out new houses to their relatives. Are they fit to be in charge ?
Thank goodness CANADIAN colonizers are supporting us in many ways.
Anybody who wants to live in the pre-colonial ways go for it, no one is stopping you.
Lori is finished… thank god
I would like to support a leader that sees the value in protecting the land, water, and caribou herds.
Did someone mention Free bingo cards for calling?
Or is that NTI and ITK?
If you want to connect with voters you gotta speak their language. So pathetic people think they can lead by losing their language. This isn’t lateral violence. It takes 6 months to learn basics of Inuktitut to be able to carry conversation, a year to be fluent. Our language is dying.