Sydney Selvon
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 20/06) - All candidates in Monday's federal election pledged to work in Ottawa to improve the Northern economy.

The five contenders to represent the Western Arctic faced questions from members of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

One main concern in the audience was how to reach a resource revenue sharing agreement between the territorial and federal governments.

The Conservative Party's Richard Edjericon said a Conservative government "would get it done right away," in response to Liberal incumbent Ethel Blondin-Andrew's statement that "we almost reached an agreement."

Both independent Jan van der Veen (independent) and Green Party candidate Alexandre Beaudin pointed out that Alberta gets 100 per cent of the resource revenue compared to about five per cent for the NWT.

The two candidates, as well as the New Democrat Dennis Bevington pledged to work to get the lion's share of resources revenue to the North.

"We should be organized, strong and smart, or all the benefits will flow to the south," said Bevington.

Candidates discussed heating costs which, it was suggested in the audience, should be declared as much a necessity as food, which is spared from GST.

Edjericon said that if he's elected he will support declaring heating a necessity and take this issue to Ottawa, in addition to his party's pledge to cut GST to five per cent.

Blondin-Andrew said the Liberals have promoted energy cost saving programs and is also sharing gas tax revenues with the provinces, which "have no restriction on expenditure."

Van der Veen said he "would go much further than Stephen Harper" regarding reduction of the GST.

Beaudin proposed a "green solution" consisting of "switching to different heating systems" while reducing individual taxes and increasing taxes on "large polluters" in the business sector.

All candidates supported programs to stimulate small business.

They also touched, at the bidding of the audience, on the shortage of human resources.

While Blondin-Andrew defended the record of the Liberal government and her own in Ottawa, the other candidates stressed the importance of stepping up training programs, and getting the current funding for such programs to all communities, which does not appear to be the case, according to Edjericon.