Sarah Holland
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 08/99) - The Northwest Territories now has two women MLAs, but newly elected Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee wishes this wasn't an issue.

"Of course it's important to me (being one of two women MLAs), it was the first piece of information I heard," said an energized Lee Tuesday.

"But I would like to see enough women there to create a critical mass, where it wouldn't be an issue, it would be a given.

"We have seven members from Yellowknife, and I'm the first woman since Lynda Sorensen was elected in 1979 -- she was the first (Yellowknife) female MLA. I remember watching her as a 14-year-old child and looking at her posters.

"I think there's something wrong since it took 20 years to elect another woman, don't you?"

Lee, a 35-year-old lawyer, beat out competitors Dave Ramsay, Everett Kasteel, Roger Russell and Alex Debogorski in what she describes as a tough constituency.

"These people studied, they knew their stuff. And, our voter turnout was very high, 71 per cent. We had 990 out of 1,400 people vote and 47 per cent voted for me."

As for Lee's lack of experience, she says that political experience isn't always an asset, and if you have no experience, you run on personal record.

"I believe I have strong credentials ... I do appreciate that I was a political neophyte; I did everything I could to get my name out there," said Lee confidently. "The people in my riding didn't care if I was a woman.

"Being door-to-door brought me total faith in democracy and the democratic process," she added.

"You know, it's slowly starting to sink in, I have to keep pinching myself. I feel great."

When asked if she is aiming for a cabinet position, Lee responded "I haven't given it much thought."