Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 17/01) - The stage is set for the Liberal Party's first Northern and western caucus meeting to be held in the NWT.

Twenty-two MPs and cabinet ministers will begin arriving in Yellowknife as early as today for a three-day session beginning Sunday.

While here, the Liberal caucus will participate in a wide range of activities, including an aboriginal summit presentation, meetings with Speaker of the legislative assembly Tony Whitford, and Mayor Gordon Van Tighem and city council.

They will be joined by Prime Minister Jean Chretien Monday afternoon.

Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew said it will be a perfect opportunity to raise issues important to Northerners while the caucus is here.

"I did a lot of preparatory work in Ottawa and here, and I'm trying very hard to get the government to move on the problem of (arsenic trioxide at) Giant Mine, also the uranium at Great Bear Lake," Blondin-Andrew said Thursday.

Caucus chair John Harvard, a Manitoba MP, said Blondin-Andrew was key to convincing the caucus to hold the meeting in Yellowknife.

"She's been riding our tails for some time to come up," said Harvard. "She really wants the Northern story to be told."