Yellowknife (July 05/04) - Ken Hudson, the president of the Fort Smith Metis Council, says it was predictable the Western Arctic vote would be close.

"We knew it was going to be closer than ever before, and it was that way."

Hudson is happy the Liberal government's strength in Parliament has been reduced. "They got a good scare."

However, he doesn't think the election results will mean changes to the new gun laws, a contentious issue for aboriginal people across Canada. "I don't expect they will pull the plug on it."

The Western Arctic results were closer than he expected, says Vern Tordoff, assistant deputy mayor of Hay River, but he always figured Blondin-Andrew would win.

The life-long Liberal blames much of the party's problems in the election on former prime minister Jean Chretien's last year in power.

"It's almost like he didn't give a damn about what happened to Canada."

Tordoff doesn't know when another election might be held, explaining he expects the Liberals and the NDP to co-operate in a minority government.