Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Western Arctic MP and NDP candidate Dennis Bevington unveiled his party's platform for the North on Monday.

The 27-page document, with a forward from NDP leader Jack Layton, outlines what the party plans to do in the North, if voted into power.

He said this was the first time the party had released a unique Northern platform.

Bevington said he was pleased to present the document, which would help "build a unified Northern vision for our party and for our economy."

Bevington highlighted family issues like creating more daycare spaces and increasing child benefits, raising the Northern residents' tax deduction and an investment of $5 billion over five years for First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities.

The platform is available to Northerners on Bevington's website, he said.

Take it to the streets

The Status of Women Council of the NWT wants you to rock the vote.

Next Tuesday at noon, the organization is inviting residents to meet at the Greenstone Building on Franklin Avenue to take to the streets for a march to create public awareness over the upcoming federal election.

"We want to encourage women and men to have their say by researching the candidates and party platforms," said council director Sharon Thomas in a press release.

With the North traditionally prone to lower voter turnout, the "Rock the Vote II" march will be held to encourage people to go out and vote in the Oct. 14 election.

The rally, which is also looking to attract high school student participation, will not promote any party.

Going carbon neutral

The NDP and Liberal campaigns have taken up the challenge of running carbon-neutral campaigns.

Neither party, however, would credit the Green Party for the move.

"We realize that is an important issue right now," said NDP candidate Dennis Bevington.

He added that buying CO2 credits was something his campaign was doing, but also said he was more concerned about looking at ways to reduce emissions.

The Liberal's campaign manager, Dave Monroe, said they have been going carbon-neutral since day one.

"We took the lead from the national party," said Monroe.

Going carbon-neutral means offsetting CO2 emissions by paying credits to promote clean energy initiatives like wind power, or making infrastructure, like buildings, more energy efficient.

Early in the campaign, Sam Gamble, the Green Party candidate, issued a challenge to the other parties to run carbon-neutral campaigns. On Monday night, Gamble was pleased to hear the two campaigns were reducing their carbon footprint.

"That was the whole point," he said of the challenge.