Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 08/99) - Incumbent Jake Ootes was all smiles and cheers Monday night as he won his second term in the legislative assembly.

"It feels really fantastic to have this chance to be there in this second term," he said Monday night.

Ootes, with 400 votes out of a possible 1,141, handily won the riding of Yellowknife Centre against Bernie Hughes, who came in with 256 ballots. Ootes lead by 144 votes, and took each of the seven polling stations.

The 57-year-old businessman and former newspaper editor said he was looking forward to the challenges of his second term.

"To me, I can move on to the next step of representing not just the needs of my constituents, but the needs of Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories," Ootes said.

"We have a small population, but a tremendous potential in terms of economic potential with resources, such as oil, gas and mining," he said. "If we can capture that, we can utilize the outcomes to solve our social problems.

Ootes said he's ready for cabinet now that he is starting his second term.

"With my experience, there's no question in my mind I could do it," he said.

As for which portfolio he would prefer, Ootes said he would wait for the territorial leadership committee to make that decision.

"I don't have a preference," he said.

"I suppose if you said that I would be best suited for a specific area ... but I'd like to leave that open to others to make."

Hughes was quick to compliment and congratulate Ootes as soon as the results were in.

"I wish you the absolute best for the next four years," Hughes said to Ootes during a short stop at the incumbent's headquarters.

"I can't say enough about how I've felt over the past six and a half weeks. There's two winners tonight."

Ootes said Hughes had given a good race.

"There was times when he really put the pressure on," Ootes said.

As for the upcoming mandate, Ootes said he is concerned about the government's budget and deficit.

"I need some answers on why we're in this position (the deficit)," he said.

"We spent the past four years balancing the budget, then in the six months before the election, we're told we're not in a good position."