by Chris Meyers Almey
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 12/97) - The North's two Reform candidates faced no opposition for their party's nomination. It's the paperwork that turned out to be hard part.

John Hunter of Whale Cove tossed his hat into the ring in the fight for Nunavut last week, joining his Western Arctic counterpart, Mike Watt of Wrigley.

Turner, 46, came to Canada from England in 1973 and moved North in 1986, travelling the Keewatin for a while before settling in Whale Cove in 1992 where he is a plumber and hamlet councillor.

In 1993 he married Agnes Poksiak and they adopted an Inuit girl.

Turner's campaign is based on tax reform and a repeal of gun laws, with harsh penalties for criminals who use guns.

He said he believes MPs should be approachable by the people and should act more on their wishes rather than on the ways of the political party.

Turner said most MPs vote the party way and ignore the people.

Constituents should also have the right to recall the MP -- using a petition of the majority of voters to call byelection, Turner said.

As of Friday, however, Turner only had some of the required 50 signatures on his nomination papers and was flying to Rankin Inlet Friday where he would gather the rest.

His leaping into the election fray happened so fast he still had to find a campaign manager.

Money, he admitted, is a problem. "I wish I was a millionaire." He said the Reform Party sent some money and he is hopeful that people in the Keewatin will have some to spare.

Wrigley's Watt, a pipeline maintenance contractor who came North from Montreal in 1976, has made a similar pledge to worth for Northerners rather than the party.

He worked in mines in Yellowknife and moved around to Rae, Fort Simpson and Norman Wells before settling in Wrigley 10 years ago.

He married Ruby Ekenale of Wrigley and they have a son and a daughter.

Although Watt has considerable experience dealing with bureaucrats -- he's been on the Deh Cho divisional school board for 11 years, six as chair -- filing his nomination papers is proving a challenge.

The deadline for filing is today and Watt was not to arrive in Yellowknife until 4:30 p.m. Monday -- shortly after the filing deadline.

So returning officer Pat McMahon made arrangements through Ottawa to allow the papers to be filed from Wrigley in a complex process.

Watt campaign manager Sandy Holmes and official agent George Lund were with McMahon in Yellowknife Friday, while Watt was in Wrigley with a justice of the peace along with another person to witness Watt's signature.

They were linked by telephone and fax to transmit the nine-page nomination form.

Watt couldn't get out of Wrigley as the ice bridge is gone and ferries aren't running yet. A charter flight would cost $700 to Fort Simpson.

When Watt arrives today by scheduled aircraft, the papers will be rushed to McMahon.

Holmes said they will only be able to put their campaign into high gear this week, because the filing process "chewed up a lot of time."

Money is in short supply for Watt, too. Holmes said the campaign "is run on a shoestring," but effort will be made to canvass Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik.