Okalik spreads some pre-election cheer in Kivalliq communities

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

BAKER LAKE – Premier Paul Okalik completed his decentralization mandate last Thursday, at the same time giving a pre-election boost to two loyal supporters in the legislative assembly.

In his final act of decentralization, Okalik travelled to the Kivalliq region, meeting up with Manitok Thompson, MLA for Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove, and Glenn McLean, MLA for Baker Lake, in their home communities.

The two-day trip allowed Okalik to announce in person that the 13 jobs in the petroleum products division of the department of public works will remain in Rankin Inlet, while 15 jobs from the Iqaluit office of the Nunavut Power Corp. will be transferred to Baker Lake.

The decision overturns cabinet’s controversial Nov. 21 agreement-in-principle to transfer PPD from Rankin Inlet to Baker Lake, while also fulfilling the government’s promise of jobs to Baker Lake.

It’s a win-win situation for Okalik that casts attention once again on the very public loss of ministerial power by his leadership rival, Jack Anawak.

Anawak, MLA for Rankin Inlet North, spoke out against the agreement-in-principle in February and was removed from cabinet in March.

The former minister was conspicuously absent from the crowded PPD boardroom in Rankin Inlet, as Okalik received praise from staff members and community leaders for finding a way to make everybody happy.

Anawak, who was in Iqaluit last week, said he did not know the premier’s office had chartered a plane to travel to Rankin and Baker, and didn’t even learn of the announcement until he heard it on CBC Radio Friday morning.

“Part of the problem is I would have stole the show because it ties directly to my being ousted from cabinet,” he said in an interview this week. “What were they afraid of? Stealing their thunder, their glory? I’m on the e-mail system. That’s all they had to do.”

Instead, over the past few months, Okalik forged a relationship with Lorne Kusugak, the mayor of Rankin Inlet and one of Anawak’s opponents in the 1999 territorial election.

Kusugak said after the announcement that his quiet collaboration with the premier succeeded where Anawak’s vocal opposition did not.

“I think one of the most effective things we did as a community is speak as one. I think our community didn’t jump up and down individually. The approach I took was to have one-on-one meetings with the premier and the minister affected,” Kusugak said.

“Jack did what he thought was necessary to be heard.”

Anawak’s fellow Rankin Inlet representative, Manitok Thompson, participated via teleconference in the Thursday morning cabinet meeting that led to the final decision. And she was at the airport to welcome Okalik when he arrived in her home community.

Thompson’s loyalty to Okalik appears to have grown stronger after she escaped censure from the premier for speaking out against the PPD transfer a day after the agreement-in-principle.

During the vote to remove Anawak in March, Okalik extended Thompson special permission to oppose the motion, while demanding all other cabinet ministers vote in favour of it.

And during a cabinet shuffle in April, he made her minister of education, the largest portfolio in government, and perhaps the most prestigious because of the importance it plays in language and culture issues.

Glenn McLean said he and Okalik haven’t always been on such good terms, but their relationship certainly improved when the premier started throwing plum capital projects at the community.

In the past few years, Baker Lake has welcomed the construction of a new Arctic College campus, an elders’ care facility, an elders’ four-plex residence, a new territorial library, and a $16-million high school announced when Okalik was acting minister of education in 2001.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about this community and it got to the point when I first got elected of being pretty mean to the premier and trying to get jobs into Baker Lake,” McLean told NPC employees who stayed late Thursday evening in anticipation of Okalik’s arrival.

“But as of today, he’s kept his promise. He’s an honourable man. I’m running out of stuff to ask for.”

Okalik, meanwhile, took the time to spread some pre-election goodwill, encouraging residents to re-elect McLean. “I look forward to working with Glenn perhaps in the next term. Let’s give Glenn four more years,” he said.

In return, McLean vowed to support Okalik in his second bid for leadership. “I’d like to thank Paul. He kept all his promises. I’d like to say if I am elected in the next term I’ll be supporting him for premier again.”

It was a bold statement for McLean, who has until now refused to state publicly whether he will seek another term. And according to Anawak, McLean told him in March that he would not run again.

“He thinks maybe he can attach himself to the premier’s coattails, whose coattails may not be all that secure,” Anawak said. “Glenn McLean might get elected, I’m not so sure about our premier.”

However, even Okalik admitted that the 15 NPC jobs going to Baker Lake will come from his riding. NPC employees in Iqaluit were learning of the plans as the premier was announcing them in Rankin and Baker.

But this time, Okalik’s loss could be Anawak’s gain.

“If I’m going to run again, I could have a choice of seats,” Anawak said.

“I could run in Iqaluit West, not that I’m going to, or Iqaluit Centre. I don’t know. I’m just taking it easy now. Nobody’s really thinking about elections right now.