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IQALUIT
Iqaluit's newest ride is causing a stir on the streets of the capital, as a white limousine ferries those looking for something with a little flash.

Iqaluit now has a limousine after Prime One Taxi brought a white Lincoln Continental up on this summer's sealift. - photo courtesy of Phillip Le Lann

"People like it and everybody wants to be in the limo," said Phillip Le Lann of Prime One Taxi, which brought the Lincoln Continental up on this year's sealift. "When I'm driving the limo, all the kids keep walking in the road and yell, 'limo, limo, limo.'"

For Le Lann, the car's arrival in Iqaluit was simply a case of opportunity knocking.

"I never expected to bring a limo here, but it was time," he said. "We needed one up here. All cities have limousines, so I thought it was time for Iqaluit to have a limousine. With the new airport coming, it's going to be busy."

However, Mother Nature caused him to lose a month's worth of important personal events and visits by luminaries and business travellers.

"It was supposed to be here at the beginning of August, but with the weather, the ice on the bay, the limousine arrived one month later, like (everything else)," he said.

It may be the most luxurious ride average Iqaluit residents can enjoy since Driving Force brought a $100,000 Mercedes-Benz S-500 to town in 2001 for a rumoured royal visit that never transpired, Nunavut New/North reported at the time.

In its first three months after the arrival, that car had under five kilometres on the odometer, Driving Force co-owner Luc Pothier said in 2001. Even Prime Minister Paul Martin eschewed a ride in the luxury vehicle, preferring a less flashy 4x4.

Le Lann hopes times have changed, noting hiring the limo is a cheaper ride than taking a taxi if a group is big enough to fill the eight-seater.

"If you have eight people going out to a restaurant or for a nightcap ... it's cheaper and you have a ride in a limousine," he said, noting prospective passengers require a reservation.

Even then, the company is moving slowly to ensure a good start. It has had to cancel some reservations due to weather, Le Lann said.

"It's still a car, so we have to be careful. If the weather is too bad, I prefer to leave the contract for another day, and up to now, everybody understands. I drove it last weekend and it was icy roads, but we have (good tires) on it so we won't have problems with that."

He expects demand to justify the limo's existence in Iqaluit.

"Everybody enjoys it for parties and town tours," he said. "When they take the taxi, it's to go to work or something. To go out for a party, graduation, for weddings, they take the limo."

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