Liberal incumbent Blondin-Andrew criss-crosses the region
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 10/00) - Fuel prices and highway needs were on voters' minds as incumbent MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew brought her campaign to the Deh Cho.
She visited several communities in the region last week, part of a hectic campaign schedule that will take her to 33 communities in 35 days.
 Ethel Blondin-Andrew |
One Fort Simpson resident said the rebate isn't as meaningful in the North because of the relatively higher fuel prices compared to the rest of the country. Fuel consumption is also higher due to colder temperatures.
Blondin-Andrew conceded that the debate over the diminished value of the dollar in the North hasn't yet taken place in Parliament. She added that federal politicians have to come to the North and get an education regarding these sorts of issues.
Questioned about federal funds for a Mackenzie Highway extension, Blondin-Andrew said there is plenty of competition for those dollars within the NWT and around the country.
However, she said a road North from Wrigley should be a priority because there is potential for resource exploration along that route.
Blondin-Andrew noted that the current funding formula for new highways is "totally inadequate," adding that under it "we wouldn't get enough money to build 10 kilometres, I'm sure."
The Minister of Transportation is working on a National Highway Strategy and an improved funding formula, she said.
Per capita concern
On the issue of an enhanced territorial funding agreement, Blondin-Andrew admitted that the current arrangement on a per capita basis doesn't give the NWT much. The federal government is trying to identify a more equitable deal, she said.
A mechanism to share resource revenue is extremely difficult, she said, because it's no longer a bilateral process between the federal government and the GNWT. First Nations are now at the table, she noted.
"It's not simply the premier and the (federal) minister sitting down and working out an agreement," she said.
Asked whether the Deh Cho Process, the regional First Nations self-government negotiations, were proceeding in as timely a manner as possible, the three-term MP said this process is unlike any other and is "fraught with complexities.
"It's been fairly tough to get everybody into the tent or the canoe on this one," she said. "I think all sides are doing the best they can... I'm really optimistic that things can keep moving."
Nick Sibbeston, a Liberal-appointed senator who accompanied Blondin-Andrew on her campaign tour of the Deh Cho, added, "I can state without any fear that if the (Canadian) Alliance ever came into power it would be devastating to the people of the North."
On the issue of aboriginal languages, Blondin-Andrew said she is proposing an Aboriginal Language Act.
"I'm really promoting that Head Starts (nursery schools) have a language nesting program," she said, adding that other language programs should be held on the land "in a more natural setting."
She said she is not advocating that every official document be translated into Dene. Nor is she promoting aboriginal languages by way of denigrating other languages, the way Bill 101 did, she said.
She pointed out that aboriginal languages are integral to First Nations' self-identity, self-esteem and healing, things that were taken away by a "system," she said.
"I'm not making promises... I'm not saying they'll do it. I'm saying I'll work for it," she said of the proposed Aboriginal Languages Act.
