Yellowknife (Dec 12/03) - As expected, Joe Handley became the NWT's new premier and he was soon joined by an all-male cabinet.

He was unopposed in his bid to replace Stephen Kakfwi. Handley also won his Weledeh riding by acclamation.

Premier Handley

"I am very humbled for your unanimous consent for me," said an emotional Handley.

In only his second term as MLA, Handley said being acclaimed demonstrates the incredible support he has gained over the past four years.

"I take that as an excellent sign," he said. "There is a lot of responsibility."

Though he's a Yellowknife-based premier, Handley said anyone assuming Yellowknife will be favoured is wrong.

"I've had strong support from the communities," he said. "I believe they genuinely feel that I am fair."

He said the government will face many challenges in the next four years and the MLAs must all work together.

"I need your support as we move along," he said. "The 15th assembly is going to face many of the same issues the 14th did."

Among those issues include education, social problems, health care, devolution, clean energy and resource revenue sharing.

The race for cabinet was much more interesting.

Ten MLAs, including four from Yellowknife, stood up to say why they should be elected to cabinet. In the end, six men were chosen.

They are: Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland; North Slave MLA Henry Zoe; Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger; Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod; Yellowknife South MLA Brendan Bell; and Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent.

The posts they will fill are to be announced Monday.

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee and Great Slave MLA Bill Braden also offered themselves as candidates for cabinet but were unsuccessful. Lee was the only woman in the running and said the public should be "outraged," with the lack of female representation.

"There has been a real silence out there," she said. "It is up to the public to push the government."

Lee said that it is unfortunate that the faces in the legislative assembly fail to reflect the population in the NWT.

"I ran as the best candidate," she said. "I will have a place in the legislature. One of the positive sides of consensus government is the power of the regular members."

Lee said she and Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen, the only other woman in the assembly, will do their best to represent women in the NWT.