 |
|
|
|
|
  
|
Three candidates forums next week Chamber of commerce, women's council and seniors to question prospective MLAs for YkHeather Lange Northern News Services Published Friday, September 23, 2011
Three all-candidates forums are shaping up for next week as groups advocating on behalf of women, seniors and business ready the mics and prepare their questions. The Status of Women Council of the NWT will host a moderated forum at Northern United Place on Monday, Sept. 26 from 7 to 10 p.m. Representatives from Alternatives North and Yellowknife YWCA will also be there to pose questions to the candidates for the first half of the forum. The second half will be open to the public to ask questions of their choice. The forum will be live-streamed on the Internet. Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director of the Status of Women Council, said organizers want to keep their questions to themselves for the time being but she expects many of the main issues affecting Northerners will be covered. "There will be questions posed on women's issues such as family violence, homelessness, childcare and gender-based analysis," said Phaneuf. It will be the Yellowknife Seniors' Society turn to ask questions the following night at the same location, also starting at 7 p.m. Vivian Squires, executive director of the Yellowknife Seniors' Society, said there will be questions concerning health benefits for seniors on the list. "We have heard rumours that some medication may be dropped that used to be covered by NWT health care and we don't want to fall through the cracks again when the government changes hands," said Squires. The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce had initially scheduled its all-candidates forum for Sept. 21 with registered attendees only but has since moved it to Thursday, Sept. 29 in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Working with the chamber to pose business-minded questions to the candidates are the Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce, the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines and the Northern Aboriginal Business Association. "It made a great deal of sense to us to put something like this on and emphasis to the folks who want to be MLA that we need to be taken seriously," said Tim Doyle, executive director of the Yellowknife business chamber. "The first half is going to be dealing with a lot of our concerns and questions that deal with economic development, growth, business issues and why it's important, and the second half will be open to the public with an open mic." Election day is Oct. 3.
|
