Election not a hot topic
Glen Vienneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 06/00) - As election officers prepare for the Nov. 27 federal vote, Northerners seem to have other issues on their minds.
"There's never a whole lot of interest in the Arctic that I can remember," said George Dunkerley, bookkeeper for Masone & Co./Uyarai in Rankin Inlet.
"It's all so far removed from here that no one gives a hoot one way or the other," he explained.
It's a common scenario throughout the North, as some voters believe it makes no difference who gets in power.
"From all the parties that are there, there's really no difference from any of them. They're all saying the same things," said Dunkerley.
"We get told what we are allowed to do and what we are going to pay in doing it, regardless of who's there."
In Iqaluit, those thoughts are shared by Rob Ranke, manager of Tununiqmiut Arts and Crafts.
He hasn't heard much election chatter, either.
"So, if they're talking about it, it's not hot news," said Ranke.
For him, the two big issues on his mind are health care and the high cost of transportation.
In the Western arctic, Sue Bottorff, receptionist for the Town of Norman Wells, says there's not much talk about the election there either.
"I don't think it's a big issue here in town, I'm not hearing anyone talk about the election," said Bottorff.
"I think people are more concerned about what's happening right at home here," she explained.
Again, there's silence about federal politics in Tuktoyaktuk.
"(There's) unbelievable silence. Go out to the stores, nobody talks," said Jim Philip, educator at the Aurora College community learning centre. That doesn't mean he's not interested.
He cares about what happens to the federal surplus.
"Let's see the list of things you haven't done, to have a surplus, there must be a corresponding list of things left out, money gouged out of provinces, people or corporations."
For him, whoever runs the country shouldn't be a person who is elected to simply toe the party line.
"They vote for who promises some crap and they (voters) sacrifice their virginity that way," he said.
