Housing and health care on Nancy Karetak-Lindell's agenda
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Dec 04/00) - Housing and health care are on Nancy Karetak-Lindell's agenda as she heads back to Ottawa for a second term.
Sailing smoothly into federal office with a whopping 68.5 per cent of the vote (5,119 votes) under her belt, Liberal incumbent Karetak-Lindell said she expected to win, but was still surprised by the margin.
 Nancy Karetak-Lindell |
The next mandate
Karetak-Lindell's success in Nunavut was on par with Liberal results across the country. Prime Minister Jean Chretien led the Grits back to power with 173 of the available 301 ridings.
She said she'd spend her second term in elected office working on housing and health care -- two key issues plaguing Nunavummiut.
Karetak-Lindell also said she picked up a few pointers from constituents during her campaign travels.
"I got a better understanding from the communities that we need to step up our communication," she said.
Reaction
Reaction to Karetak-Lindell's victory has been good.
Acting Nunavut Tunngavik president James Eetoolook said her re-election meant work on projects like the DEW-Line clean up and fisheries issues would pick up where it had left off prior to the election. He also commended the party for all they've done for the Inuit.
"The Liberals have been more for the aboriginal people than any other party that's been in power in the federal government," said Eetoolook, from his office in Cambridge Bay.
"It's good to see her get in again," he added.
Deputy Premier Kelvin Ng -- who sat with Karetak-Lindell on election night -- said it was good to have an MP with experience representing Nunavut.
"She'll be able to articulate our issues to her federal colleagues," said Ng.
Second place
NDP candidate Palluq Susan Enuaraq came in second with 1,391 votes (18.61 per cent).
She said she was disappointed by the election results, but she believes she did a good job in bringing issues to light. She also said her family felt good about her first foray into the world of politics.
"They were very proud of me," she said.
Progressive Conservative candidate Mike Sherman took 625 votes (8.36 per cent). He was surprised by the number of people who voted Liberal given the complaints he heard while campaigning.
"Everybody voiced their concerns about housing and health care problems that came up over the last several years, but then they re-elected the people who put us there," said Sherman.
Green Party candidate Brian Jones went out on a more positive note and said he was pleased with his last place numbers -- 338 votes (4.52 per cent).
"I didn't think I'd get over 200 votes, so I was surprised," he said.
Voter turnout
Candidates and voters alike were forced to wait until 3 a.m. on Nov. 28 as the results trickled in. A total of 13,046 voters were registered but that's expected to change.
Final figures were expected to be released today, when the validation process was completed, but unofficial numbers showed voter turnout at 57.23 per cent.
