Nunavut liberals face fierce nomination fight

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

The federal Liberal leadership struggle has spawned an unusually tense contest for the party in Nunavut.

Without former prime minister Jean Chrétien to protect her position, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, MP for Nunavut since 1997, must face off against Manitok Thompson, Nunavut’s out-going education minister at the end of March for the Liberal riding nomination in the next election.

Wilf Wilcox, president of the Nunavut Liberal Association, said Prime Minister Paul Martin’s ascent to the party’s top position opened up ridings across the country where incumbents were previously protected by his nemesis, former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Karetak-Lindell, who enjoyed a coronation as Liberal candidate in the last two elections, now has to fight for her political life.

Although the prime minister hasn’t announced whether voters will elect their next federal government in spring or fall, he wants all Liberal nominations completed by March 30.

Pointing to growing membership numbers, Wilcox said competition for Nunavut’s Liberal candidacy has created a “vigorous interest” in the party.

“It probably makes people want to take part in the process,” Wilcox said in an interview from Cambridge Bay.

Membership for the Liberals stands at 140 people, though Wilcox hopes that number will climb as high as 500.

Thompson said members hoping to improve the quality of life for Nunavummiut should vote for her.

She said her priorities will be to lobby for improved housing, recreational facilities and other municipal infrastructure, such as water and sewage systems.

But the key to improving the lot of Nunavut, she said, will be pushing the federal government to give the territory more control over its resources, and the royalties taxes that come from industrial projects like mining.

“We want the federal government to give us our rights on the road to independence,” Thompson said during an interview from Rankin Inlet. “We should be the same as any other Canadian in Canada.”

A former minister of housing, as well as of community government and transportation, Thompson said her experience “on the other side of the table” in negotiations with the federal government makes her an ideal candidate to bring all sides together.

“I know what government wants, I know what government needs,” she said.

While Thompson said she isn’t criticizing the incumbent’s track record, Karetak-Lindell questioned whether her opponent is creating a platform only to please others.

Karatak-Lindell said the Liberal candidacy race has changed Thompson’s opinion in the Nunavut’s human rights debate, sparked by a narrowly-approved Human Rights Act which protects residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

She points to how Thompson, who as education minister opposed the act and argued that homosexuality was not part of Northern culture, now emphasizes equal rights for everyone, but not at the risk of changing the traditional definition of marriage.

Karetak-Lindell said even Thompson’s watered-down stance on human rights doesn’t belong in the Liberal Party.

“We’re a party that’s inclusive,” she said in a phone interview from northern Alberta. “We’re the party that represents the majority of people in the country. We’re now a country of many and diverse cultures. We want to be respectful of people.

“I try to live what I preach. It’s not always easy, but I cannot turn around and treat someone differently.”

Karetak-Lindell said if her stance on supporting same-sex rights cost her votes, she was “willing to accept that.” If Karetak-Lindell loses the nomination race, she can keep her seat until the next election.

The nomination conference will take place in Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay. Only members signed up before March 16 will be eligible to vote.