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Definitely a local campaign
NWT candidates tend to emphasize more Northern issues by Jennifer Pritchett
NNSL (May 26/97) - It may be the one thing all the candidates agree on:
"A lot of people here vote for the candidate -- they look at the ability of the candidate and not so much what party he or she represents."
Lorne Kusugak, campaign manager for Nunavut Liberal Nancy Karetak Lindell, made the statement when asked to discuss the apparent difference between the NWT campaign strategy and the national scene.
It's a comment almost every candidate in any federal election might make, but it's a lot easier to swallow north of 60. When, for example, was the last time someone raised national unity at an NWT all-candidate's debate?
Candidates in Nunavut and the Western Arctic all agree their focus lies with Northern issues, and not so much on their party's national platforms.
Only Nunavut Reform candidate John Turner's campaign manager admitted to a focus on national issues, such as reducing the size of government and taxes.
"He has the same concerns as the rest of the Reform Party," said Agnes Poksiak-Turner.
"He's relying heavily on the national party platforms, but is also stressing the local issues."
Mike Watt, Reform candidate for the Western Arctic, said the local focus is most definitely the Northern trend.
"We rely a little more on what a person has to say than on a particular party," he said. "I think we've given everyone a chance -- the Liberals, the PCs."
Watt said that this has been the trend in the NWT for years, and is certainly nothing new for this campaign. "There is less of a reliance on the national platform," he said.
Haigh Carthew, campaign manager for Western Arctic PC candidate Bob Dowdall, agrees that local issues are on the forefront.
"Bob follows the platform, but people up here are more concerned with the issues of the North," he said.
The importance placed on local issues forces candidates to make more of a personal impression on the voters, requiring them to get out and meet them.
"This is why we made an effort to visit the communities -- so that they can hear straight from the horses mouth," he said.
Ethel Blondin-Andrew is the only candidate to release a specific 21-point Western Arctic platform, in addition to the Liberal party's national red book. It includes the Northern economy, environment, social programs, culture, as well as the North's place in the rest of Canada.
by Richard Gleeson
NNSL (May 26/97) - Like so many southern inventions, southern-style election campaigns don't quite fit the North.
The cultures, wide-open spaces and a comparatively small population call for a different approach in the North.
In the South, candidates rely heavily on media to get their messages out. Media are bused, flown, fed and generally coddled by candidates hoping for favorable coverage.
In the territories, where candidates are already known by many voters, face-to-face meetings count for more than video-bites and photo-ops.
"You have to go and talk to your people," said Lorne Kusugak, campaign manager for Nunavut Liberal candidate Nancy Karetak Lindell.
"It's a lot more effective, especially when you know half the people. You have to go door-to-door and you have to talk to them about the issues."
Kusugak also noted the North is different from the South, so far as print media coverage is concerned.
"Kivalliq News and News/North are only out once a week," he said, noting a high percentage of voters in the East are unilingual Inuit, further reducing the impact print media can have compared with the southern dailies.
But meeting and greeting voters in the North is also a very expensive proposition.
Candidates in ridings in urban centres can walk their campaign trails while most Northern communities are accessible only by air.
Scheduled flights are not an efficient way of touring the communities, since they all begin or end in regional centres. The most effective way to meet voters, then, is chartering a plane.
"It runs in the range of a couple of thousand dollars a day," says Air Nunavut owner Jeff Mahoney. That includes pilot and fuel for a seven-seater Piper Navajo.
That's a bigger bill than most candidates can handle.
Independent Western Arctic candidate Wally Firth, from Fort McPherson, doesn't have the cash to visit all voters in their communities, but he has been able to talk to a lot on the way to or from home.
Firth regularly visits the Yellowknife airport, a stopping point for almost all Western Arctic scheduled flights.
In stark contrast to Firth's campaign is that of one of his opponents, the only incumbent running in the territories, Ethel Blondin-Andrew.
Campaign manager Lynda Sorenson said Blondin-Andrew will be spending roughly $100,000 to get her message out. |