Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 23/00) - John Matthews had no time to savour his win at the polls. Iqaluit's new mayor was peppered with questions.

When would he start; how he would conduct business, which issues are most important?

With a vision of running an efficient government, Matthews is looking forward to the next three years.

News/North After you were elected did you have a moment of "oh no, what I have got myself into?"

Matthews: No, not at all. I knew what I was getting into and there will certainly be many rewarding moments from serving as mayor and there are going to many frustrating, painful moments.

News/North What would be rewarding and what would be frustrating?

Matthews: Rewarding would be seeing the Town meet some of its challenges -- if a good road system came under this tenure that would be wonderful.

Frustrations will be when we can't get things done when we want them to for one reason or another.

Criticism is inevitable no matter what you do and as a politician you have to be prepared for it and we do have thick skins, but it does get through to us once in awhile.

News/North Why do you think that you were elected?

Matthews: There are two reasons: I ran a better campaign, I put more energy and effort into it (and) the community felt that I had the skills that are more desirable at this point in time.

News/North What do you think of the new council? What flavour will it have over the next three years?

Matthews: Each council is different and I'm hopeful that this one will be more efficient than the last one.

News/North How do you think residents will react to having a non-Inuktitut speaking mayor?

Matthews: It's important to realize this isn't the first time that we've had a non-Inuk in this position.

The second point is that I think the performance of the person in the position rather than if they are Inuk or non-Inuk is more important.

If I can demonstrate early in the game that I am open to hearing any issue and that I do not have any biases, hopefully people will judge me on my performance rather than my origins.

News/North Do you feel that you've always represented what people have asked for? Have there been times of great conflict?

Matthews: One of the greatest difficulties is that it's hard to get feedback from the community.

News/North Why is that?

Matthews: I think part of the reason is that the council isn't getting its message out.

The adminstration is working on having the council meetings televised and I think once that happens, people will at least have the option of following along.

I'd like to see that happen as soon as possible.

News/North How does information get out right now?

Matthews: Well, it doesn't get out and that's one of the problems. That's why having the sessions televised would be a good idea.

The minutes are available, but nobody can really access them. They should be available on a website.

News/North Do you see any radical changes to council under your direction?

Matthews: I wouldn't think initially there would be a lot of changes, but things will operate a lot more efficiently under my direction.

I also want to fine-tune the existing systems. There are a lot of small things that can be done and those will cumulatively make the relationship between the adminstration and mayor and council more efficient.

News/North Are you excited about working with the new group of people who are now on council?

Matthews: Definitely. I've worked with all of them in some way or other over the past 20 years -- I'm very excited.

News/North What about the lack of women on council?

Matthews: With women on council it provides a different perspective on issues and I think it's very unfortunate that two of the three women who ran weren't elected, but it was a strong slate and the people made the decisions.

N\N: As mayor, how important do you feel it is for Iqaluit to achieve city status?

Matthews: On the one hand it won't matter a great deal to the individual person on the street, but I think in the broader perspective it's important that we become a city so we can sit down as an equal when we meet with other capital cities.

News/North Is there a feeling that Iqaluit is less than equal because it is a town and not a city?

Matthews: There is and I think there will always be that perception from the other capital cities because we are so much smaller. But as a city we can have a proper seat at the table and debate as equals rather than a "weaker cousin."

News/North Right now what is the status on Iqaluit becoming a city?

Matthews: It's my understanding that it's in the process of becoming a city and the territorial government has given consent in principal.

News/North What are your thoughts on the mayor's position being half-time?

Matthews: I think it will involve more time in the mayor's office, not only responding to the day-to-day business of the Town, but it will give me the opportunity to reach out and set up meetings with the territorial government and to reach out to other cities.

News/North And what is the status of that issue?

Matthews: I think it starts at the beginning of January, it's a done deal.

News/North How important is it for the Town to work closely with the GN?

Matthews: Very, very important. We haven't always had the best relationship, certainly with the GNWT it was very rocky. That's since changed, but I want to establish a very good rapport at the political level and then have it flow through to the administrative level.

News/North When did you get involved in Iqaluit politics?

Matthews: Six years ago.

News/North What was it that drew you in?

Matthews: The desire to give back to the community, to volunteer for a position on council.

I believe very strongly in community service and I think serving on council is one way that people can provide it.

News/North: What will your first order of business be after you are sworn in?

Matthews: To get a computer in the mayor's office.