Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 30/99) - Goo Arlooktoo's defeat in Nunavut's MLA race last February was certainly one of the most shocking results of the landmark election. News/North chatted with the former politician and learned how Arlooktoo had dealt with the defeat and what his plans for the future entailed.

News/North: Tell me about your new consulting firm. Who are you in business with?

Goo Arlooktoo: I'm working with John Amagoalik and Dennis Patterson. The three of us had been doing some consulting work on our own and we decided that as a team, we might be more effective and able to assist each other.

N/N: There are all kinds of rumours about what Goo has planned for the future. What are your plans?

Arlooktoo: After the last election, I thought that I'd had enough of politics, but it's still an interesting area. There's still a lot of work to be done. I make it no secret that I get a lot of calls and suggestions from all over the territory to run for this or that, whether it's (Nunavut Tunngavik) or others. It's something I haven't ruled out.

N/N: It must have come as a big surprise to you to find out that you hadn't won your riding.

Arlooktoo: Not really. In the last few days of the election campaign and on the day of the election, we kind of saw the writing on the wall. We saw the momentum of Mr. Akesuk and his team. We were still hopeful that we would win. We had run a very good, clean campaign right until the very end. Disappointing is kind of a weak term for it.

N/N:: Do you have a term to describe how you felt?

Arlooktoo: No. The hard-working team I had was devastated, but that's what elections are and I went in with my eyes wide open. You can win it or you can lose it.

N/N: You were always aware that the possibility was there that you could lose?

Arlooktoo: Yes. I tried to prepare mentally for it. The big surprise was among the public and the media who had assumed that I would win and go on to bigger things.

N/N: Many people had pegged you as the next premier.

Arlooktoo: That's what people had said. But I'm still here, I'm still working and I still believe in Nunavut.

N/N: Was the role of premier a role that you saw yourself in?

Arlooktoo: I don't know. I've gone through a period in the NWT as a high-profile minister, being in the public limelight. In that way, it wasn't really my cup of tea. I never made any assumptions about what I would or would not have done.

N/N: At the exact moment that you heard you had not won, what went through your head?

Arlooktoo: Probably a lot of the same things that the other candidates went through. You kind of get that sinking feeling. I was the one that took the phone call from Cape Dorset. The most difficult part was having to put the phone down and tell the team, before it went on TV, that we hadn't made it.

N/N: Do you think you'll resurface in the next MLA election?

Arlooktoo: Right now I'm concentrating on establishing myself here. I have a family to feed and take care of. I'm in the process of trying to find a house here which is very, very difficult. I have commitments to the people that I'm working with. Right now, I'm just concentrating on trying to make a living. Who knows? What's that term -- once bitten, twice shy.

N/N: For the first few days and weeks following the election, what did you do to get back on track? So much of your life had been dedicated to politics.

Arlooktoo: I got phone calls right until four in the morning at my house in Kimmirut from all over the territories. We had people coming over at all hours of the night trying to make me feel better. I got calls from many of the provinces down south where I know people and they had been watching the results. I got a lot of calls from former MLAs that had lost and other candidates that didn't make it. A certain amount of counselling went on I think. I was still a minister for another 40 days or so and in that sense, it was a fairly soft landing because I still had a job to go to, to keep me busy. I tried to figure out what I was going to do. That was a fairly easy decision because I intended to move over here. I took a couple of weeks off and went fishing, but as a person of not that many resources, I can't afford to take too much time off. After that, there was work that needed to get done. I started off working for other consultants, doing little things mostly.

N/N: Do you miss politics?

Arlooktoo: Put it this way -- the work I'm doing now is nose to the wheel type stuff. I work and work and work and get paid for the product. If you don't have a product, you don't get paid. When you're a minister, you've basically got a lot of support and what you're doing is giving direction and pointing the way and taking the heat when you have to. I would loved to have been (an MLA), but I'm also really enjoying not being in the limelight and working in the backroom.

N/N: Do you think it was a case of people specifically not choosing you or that people were going for change across Nunavut?

Arlooktoo: I think there was the sense that there was a big change coming. Nunavut Territory was going to be a reality and why not try a change? Also, Mr. Akesuk, who is my friend, ran a good and aggressive campaign. During the whole time there have been MLAs in the NWT, none have ever come out of Cape Dorset. There was a sense that it was time for that.

N/N: Are you pleased with the way the government is building itself up and with the decisions they've made so far?

Arlooktoo: They have a very tough job to do. Like a lot of people, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. They're just starting off and they are working from a plan and a budget that wasn't entirely of their making. We're going to see by the next session, what kind of results that this new government is going to come up with. I have my own views on whether they're doing a good job or a poor job, but I'm going to reserve those comments. I'm not going to play the role of government critic today.

N/N: When you look at some of their decisions, do you chomp at the bit and think you would have done it differently?

Arlooktoo: Of course. As a member of the general public, we all feel that way. I was in government and we were constantly being told we should have done something in another way. The problem there is that I, as Joe Citizen today, don't have the kind of information that these ministers are working with. They have to weigh many different points before making a decision. The fact that resources and money are so limited and demand is so high, they will have to make a lot of tough choices. In the end, that will hurt some of them politically.