Yellowknife (June 23/03) - It's been a long time since Jake Ootes entered a boxing ring, but in a way, he's never left.

Eight years as a territorial MLA -- four of them as a cabinet minister -- has taught him that much.

Ootes, with his wife Marg Baile. He says they want to spend more time together after he retires. - Photo courtesy of Jake Ootes

"We had quite an active boxing club," says Ootes, recalling his teen years as an amateur boxer in Renfrew, Ont. "I don't remember how many bouts we won."

Two weeks ago, the 61-year-old minister for Education, Culture and Employment rose before his colleagues in the legislative assembly to inform them he's retiring from politics. It was simply time to find something else to do.

"It was somewhat coincidental that I started on a basis every eight years changing," says Ootes. "But I did that deliberately in some cases, and I found that it works out really well for me."

Mending the heart

He acknowledges that his health is a concern. Last year, he underwent double-bypass heart surgery from which he successfully recovered.

"I feel really good though," says Ootes. "I have more energy than I've had before... But does that (heart surgery) relate? Of course it does.

"Both Marg (his wife) and I are saying we're not young any more and we want to have an opportunity to have some time together that we can enjoy what we need to."

He's proud to say that, for once, he has absolutely no idea what comes next after his term ends in November. Perhaps go somewhere warm for a while with Marg, maybe take some pictures, take a trip back to his native Holland where he spent his early childhood years, get back into journalism -- who knows?

"I really don't know," says Ootes. "I'm serious about that. I just don't have anything that I can say: 'Yeah, I'm going to do this.'

"I've got six month's to think about it."

A long Northern history

Although Ootes claims his life pursuits only come in eight-year spurts, his connection to the North dates back 40 years.

At age 22, after a couple years working as a news reporter in Ontario, Ootes became the first employee of the fledgling territorial government when he took on the job as editor of debates -- centred in Ottawa.

Over the next few years, he would become acquainted with several big players in the North, including his future boss, Stuart Hodgson, the former NWT commissioner whom over time, forged the way for greater powers within the territory.

Ootes' first few years' involvement with the NWT had him bouncing between the territorial government and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, while mostly remaining in Ottawa. In 1967, however, he was finally allowed to head North at Hodgson's insistence.

"I was Hodgson's executive assistant through all those years (1967-1975)," recalls Ootes. "I also took over a really small operation that built into the information department. We established the language bureau, which became the interpreter corps."

In 1975, however, his internal clock began ticking again and he felt it was time to move on. He wanted to pursue his dream of publishing a newspaper.

His first publication was the community newspaper for Fort Saskatchewan, near Edmonton. It was small and unassuming -- a perfect place to start.

"The fellow that owned it, an old Irishman, I said to him: 'Why don't you put more pages into the newspaper, there's lots of potential for advertising," remembers Ootes.

"He said: 'Because I print in the city, the springs on my truck can't take the weight of the papers.' So that's why he stayed at 16 pages."

"Well, we built that thing into quite a decent-sized newspaper."

Ootes went on to create another community newspaper for Sherwood Park and another for South Edmonton.

After another eight years, however, his interest turned once again towards the NWT. Why not start a publication up here?

He sold his southern newspapers and then launched a new publication up North in 1983, called the Northwest Explorer -- the inflight magazine for NWT Air.

In 1988, he started another inflight magazine, Above and Beyond, this time for First Air. It's still in circulation, although Ootes sold it when he decided to run as MLA for Yellowknife Centre in 1995.

A politician is born

On a visit up North that year, Ootes' brother, Case, who was a city councillor for East York at the time (now deputy mayor of Toronto) suggested he give politics a try.

Ootes ran on a slate with six other candidates and surprised himself with a win.

"I didn't win by much, but a win is a win," Ootes laughs.

"It was all door-to-door is where I made it. I got out of the blocks fairly early... I really felt very emotional about being able to walk into the legislative having been amongst some of the first (to work) in this territorial government."

After serving on the opposition benches for four years, Ootes was given the opportunity to serve on cabinet following his re-election in December 1999. The learning curve suddenly got much steeper.

"I didn't find it that easy," Ootes admits. "I had mostly served on the economic side as an MLA on committee rather than on the social envelope side.

"I really had to dig in quickly to get familiar in that area."

Nonetheless, Ootes says he's proud of the accomplishments achieved during his three and a half year tenure over ECE: Increased funding for student financial assistance, an early childhood development program, online learning for students living in remote communities, a job bank and a student Northern employment program, among others.

"One of the keys to me was ensuring that we brought the students back North, that we provided them with job opportunities because the say was: 'Look, there's no jobs there for me,'" says Ootes.

"So we created that, in terms of good summer employment programs... and then when they graduated with a degree or a diploma we provided them with internship programs within their field of study. That was important for me."

With an increasing demand for a skilled workforce to take jobs in the NWT's mining and oil and gas industry, Ootes says his successor will have their work cut out for them.

"The economic outlook for the territories, as a whole, is looking quite dramatic and very, very good," says Ootes.

"The challenge for our government is to keep pace with its own revenues. That's the challenge and that's the challenge for this department as well."

Regardless, Ootes says he'll be watching. Whatever he decides to do after he leaves office, he intends to stay in the NWT.

"We'll (Marg and I, after a short vacation) will work our way back here and carry on," says Ootes.