Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 17/99) - Education Minister and Yellowknife MLA Charles Dent says Monday's Nunavut election serves as an important reminder for citizens of the west -- division is just around the corner.

"It's another step along the road," he said yesterday morning. "It brings home that we really are seven weeks away from division."

Joking that he always enjoys watching elections where he knows many candidates personally but isn't himself running, Dent said he was surprised at the loss suffered by GNWT Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo.

"I thought Goo would do better," he said.

Dent also said he hopes Nunavut and the western NWT continue to build on the shared experiences the two territories have had over the years as they move forward. Pointing to the Yukon, Dent said he hopes Nunavut and the west don't drift apart as the NWT seems to have from its Yukon neighbour.

"In looking at our relationship with the Yukon, that's (shared understandings) been lost over the years," Dent said. "We have to strengthen the community of interest between the three territories."

"It would be a shame if it (Nunavut and the west's future relations) went the way the relationship went with the Yukon."

Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen said she was impressed with the high voter turnout in Nunavut's first ever election.

"There is nothing worse than apathy," she said. "...The voter turnout was fantastic."

According to Elections NWT, unofficial results show a voter turnout of 88 per cent. There were 12,210 eligible voters on Nunavut's voter's list.

Groenewegen also said she was pleased to see her former colleagues, Iqaluit's Ed Picco and Arviat's Kevin O'Brien, re-elected.

"I was really pleased to see them rewarded (with victory)," she said.