Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Dec 10/99) - Winning every poll in his riding, Jim Antoine was returned as Nahendeh's member of the legislative assembly in convincing fashion Monday.

The incumbent garnered 546 votes to Paul Gammon's 312. Bill Laferte finished a distant third, chosen on 43 ballots.

The results were met with a huge cheer and a sense of relief at Antoine's campaign headquarters, based in a hotel office in Fort Simpson. Surrounded by supporters and constantly receiving calls on his cordless phone, Antoine admitted that it was a stressful evening.

"I just got back ... I couldn't take it. I went around and took all the (campaign) signs down," he said. "I'm glad it's over."

He said he felt voters judged him favourably based on his eight years of experience as MLA, four years as cabinet minister and the past 12 months as premier.

"I think the people in the communities, they know me, and I know what they're going through ... and the type of help they need I think I can work hard to achieve," said Antoine, who was the overwhelming choice in Jean Marie River, Trout Lake, Nahanni Butte, Fort Liard and Wrigley in addition to sweeping the three polls in Fort Simpson.

In light of the convincing results, Gammon said he would not personally pursue a complaint of an Elections Act violation against Jim Antoine, which was filed by his official agent during the campaign.

"It's not like he (Antoine) won by 20 votes or something. Two hundred is significant," he said.

Gammon admittedly presumed there was more support for displacing the status quo than there was in reality.

"We possibly misunderstood the situation. There's not much we can really say," he said, adding that he was hoping to get at least one-third of the votes in the outlying communities.

Bill Laferte, who didn't figure prominently in the race, said he wasn't disappointed by the numbers.

"It didn't matter who in the hell won. I didn't really expect to win as I went in," he said. "The only reason I threw in my hat was to give them a good run and bring out some issues."

He added that he's disappointed so many Dene people still live in destitution but yet Antoine gets back into office after eight years of offering little assistance to the poor.

Antoine wasn't hasty to acknowledge that he has an eye on resuming his role as premier, but admitted that he desires to "play a key role" in government.

Asked whether he stands by his contentious comments about potential government job cuts in Yellowknife rather than the smaller NWT communities, he replied in the affirmative. He reiterated that territorial government structure in the capital city was designed for a larger territory, the way the NWT existed prior to division.

The challenge for the next premier and the legislative assembly is to revamp the government in a fair and equitable way while keeping it affordable, he said.