Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 24, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Voters in Weledeh have four distinctly different candidates from which to choose the successor to Premier Joe Handley, who easily won the constituency in 1999 and was acclaimed for his final term.

The apparent front runners - Bob Bromley, a former government bird biologist and founder of Ecology North, and Andy Wong, an accountant and newspaper columnist - burst from the starting gates with signs and websites.

Jonas Sangris, former chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, joined the race in the second week, after he discussed with Peter Liske and Richard Edjericon, both former Yellowknives chiefs, who would run in the constituency that includes the Dene communities of Ndilo and Dettah.

As well known as the three men in the race are, the candidate arguably most familiar to Weledeh's 1513 registered voters is Carol Morin, who took unpaid leave from her job as news reader for the CBC supper hour TV news show to run for election.

Morin, 44, decided it was "time to get involved; time to stop talking and start doing." Her priority issues are education and the pace of resource development.

"There seems to be a bit of a rush - the resources will still be there tomorrow," said Morin, who doesn't like the idea of "flying people in from Edmonton for jobs that could be done by people in the communities."

Born in Sandy Bay, a small community in northern Saskatchewan, Morin has been in Yellowknife for six years, and says it's "the best place I've ever lived."

Sangris, 59, is offering himself to voters as "a proven northern leader, a chief for 12 years and community negotiator for the Akaitcho process."

Weledeh is "a very interesting riding of native and non-native, uptown and the Ingraham Trail. In the last few years it seems they have not come together," said Sangris, who has "concerns about land use and tenure that need to be addressed."

"We have to work together for the future for our people," said Sangris, who supports "a balanced approach to protecting the environment and responsible resource development that provides real benefits."

Wong, 48, lived in Saskatoon for six years after emigrating from Malaysia, and came to Yellowknife almost 20 years ago.

He's running because "I was at a point where I was ready to test my career choices. I was getting a little comfortable. I thought, let's shake things up and use my skills.

"Politics is a good area for me to embark on. The part that excites me is creating legislation. You have to bring a certain skill set to policy changes and policy reviews. You have to have people skills to collaborate and move things forward."

Aside from Jonas Sangris, no candidate has deeper roots in the constituency than Bob Bromley, who was born and raised in Weledeh.

Bromley opened his campaign with a barbecue on the last warm, sunny day of autumn. While family and friends snacked on whitefish and home baking, Mayor Gord Van Tighem and Dene Nation chief Bill Erasmus stopped by to chat with the greenest of the Weledeh candidates.

"We're doing well economically, but social and cultural areas are sliding off the table," said Bromley, who wants "to put together more comprehensive solutions, not just fix-its, to the problems we face."

Bromley wants to diversify the economy, and rely less on imported skills and more on small business, with an emphasis on local products and small-scale renewable energy sources. He offered bottled water as an example.

"If we want to keep on drinking it, why import it. We can make it here," he said.