City's two female councillors are the only one to put their names forward so far

Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, January 22, 2015

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
With just under nine months until the next municipal election, half of Yellowknife's city councillors remain tight-lipped about whether they plan to seek another term.

So far council's two female representatives - Linda Bussey and Rebecca Alty - are the only incumbents to announce they want to keep their seats in the next election.

After announcing her intention to take over the role of deputy mayor for the remainder of this term at a committee meeting on Monday, Bussey told Yellowknifer she has gained confidence since being elected for the first time this term and that she plans to leverage her new role to increase her engagement at city hall.

"This is going to be an opportunity for me to learn and to gain more knowledge for running next time," she said.

When asked by Yellowknifer why she was seeking a second term, Alty emphasized her desire to maintain some form of "continuity" at the municipal level, especially given the progress the current council has made with regards to keeping taxes down.

"I think it was really good that six of the eight of us were new," Alty said, noting only two of current council members - Bob Brooks and Cory Vanthuyne - had served a previous term.

"But to do that every three years would be a little hectic."

At least two other councillors confirmed they have no plans to seek another term.

Brooks, the city's longest-serving councillor with seven terms under his belt, confirmed he plans to retire from politics this year so that he can focus on his career with the territorial government.

Meanwhile, Vanthuyne told Yellowknifer he is sticking to his original plan of sitting on council for two terms. Whereas Brooks will be stepping back from politics, Vanthuyne said he is hoping to run for a seat in the legislative assembly this year. The territorial election is scheduled to take place Nov. 23 - providing the federal election takes place Oct. 19. Yellowknife's municipal election also takes place Oct. 19.

"As it stands right now, I won't be committing to a third term at the city but I certainly will be giving a lot of thought to running territorially," he said, adding he is undecided about which constituency he intends to represent.

'It's a part-time job'

While half of council has appears to have made up their minds about the next election, the remainder say they are still doing a bit of soul searching before they decide.

Couns. Adrian Bell and Niels Konge, both of whom own their own businesses, said they have to figure out whether they can continue juggling their day jobs with the ever time-consuming responsibilities that come with being a city councillor.

"(Being on council) is very exciting work. I do enjoy it but the fact it's a part-time job makes it a little bit cumbersome," said Bell.

"Our economic times are certainly not as rosy as they were pre-2008 so that's something that definitely weighs on my mind - whether I can continue to afford to spend the time," added Konge.

When he was first elected, Konge said he only planned to stay for one term. However, he said in the last few months he has been approached by members of the public who have asked him to try for another term.

"I had made it pretty clear that I was only going to do one term but now their asking me to reconsider. That's also something that weighs on a person's mind," he said.

Phil Moon Son and Dan Wong also said they weren't ready to make any announcements about their plans for the next election.

Mayor Mark Heyck is waiting to announce whether or not he will run again. However, the former president of the NDP's Western Arctic riding association is putting to rest rumours that he might be considering to fill in as the NDP's federal candidate should NWT MP Dennis Bevington decide not to seek another term.

"I think when I started on council I maybe had ideas about down the road running for something else," said Heyck, who received a shoutout from NDP leader Thomas Mulcair in Parliament after he became the party's leader in 2012.

"But I've really come to enjoy local government and what is possible to achieve here."

Anyone interested in running for city council has until Sept. 21 to file nomination papers. Nominations open Sept. 4.