As the NDP attempt to arrest their headlong dive in the national polls, NDP incumbent Dennis Bevington has unveiled his vision for the North. The plan, announced this morning, closely followed the promises made by Tom Mulcair during his Iqaluit visit last week: $32 million over four years to expand Nutrition North subsidies to 50
McLeod says he’s not playing a “numbers game,” and favours projects like the Tlicho road, dredging the harbor at Hay River, and, long-term, the Mackenzie Valley Highway In the hope of squeezing juice from Justin Trudeau’s “historic investment plan in the middle class,” as the Liberal spin machine bills its pledge to spend $125 billion on infrastructure
With the federal election now underway, the NWT Liberals are getting their house in order and gearing up to choose a candidate this Saturday. Members of the NWT Liberal riding association (who joined before the August 3rd cut-off date) will choose between former Yellowknife City Councillor Gail Cyr and former MLA (and brother of premier
The first candidate greenlit by the Liberals, Testart has thrown his support to Michael McLeod This afternoon, NWT Liberal Party hopeful Kieron Testart withdrew from the race to become his party’s candidate in the forthcoming federal election, throwing his support instead behind former MLA Michael McLeod. “Though we have accomplished so much, with less than 100
The last time I wrote about this fall’s federal election, the Liberal Party was flying high in national polls, the NDP was sputtering and the Conservatives had their reliable third of the electorate locked up. That was four months ago. Things are a bit different these days. In case you hadn’t heard, the NDP is
Just short of 60 GNWT employees were given notice today that their jobs would affected by the long-anticipated austerity budget that will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly next week. “While the approximately 58 affected employees have been notified, no decisions have been made at this time,” according to a GNWT backgrounder made available to
On EDGE: ANALYSIS “We are fully adopting this and working to implement it within the laws of Canada.” Federal Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett attempted to set the record straight about Canada’s promised implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) this week at the United Nations headquarters in
The ‘sunny ways’ of the new Liberal government are casting a new light on the Dehcho region, where Grand Chief Herb Norwegian says leaders are planning to take full advantage of the new “cleansing, reconciliatory atmosphere” in Ottawa and the territorial government to finalize their land claim, which has been dragging on for over 20
On EDGE | ANALYSIS It’s often been said in Canadian politics that if you’re a Prime Minister or premier looking to hamstring a potential challenger to your leadership, your best bet is to make that person the finance minister, where they’re sure to become your government’s routine bearer of bad news. Former finance minister Michael
On your left, representing change, and on your right, representing change On EDGE | Opinion When Bob McLeod stood up in the assembly to announce his second run at the NWT’s premiership yesterday afternoon, he could well have taken a page out of the Stephen Harper playbook: economic times are tough, the outlook for the
It’s 2015, but when it comes to gender equality in leadership, the Northwest Territories are stuck in a flashback to less enlightened times. Despite a record 10 female candidates running in last month’s territorial election, the number of female MLAs heading to the 18th assembly remains unchanged: two of 19. To examine why our legislative assembly lags
“It’s like Survivor, not for the faint of heart,” says David Ramsay. And no, the outgoing cabinet minister is not talking about a new season of Ice Lake Rebels. Over the coming weeks, MLAs will be immersed in the intense and secretive process of choosing a new premier and cabinet for the territory. In our
FRESH FACES: There’ll be a lot of new faces around the table when the legislative assembly meets to pick a government in the December. In 2011, there were 14 holdovers from the previous assembly; this time there will be eight. Only one incumbent was defeated in 2011, while eight went down on Monday night. As with the last assembly, there’s an
It’s clear where territorial voters sit on this one. Whatever “change” has been wafting through the air during the recent triathlon of elections, the NWT clearly caught a specific territorial strain of it last night. Pick your well-worn metaphor. A landslide? A groundswell? Whatever we saw, it was dramatic. Certainly enough to dent, if not
Does this new hospital look like a bridge to you? Because it does to us. | Illustration courtesy GNWT EDGE Political Opinion Just over eight years ago, little more than a month away from a territorial election, outgoing-premier Joe Handley was in Fort Providence, shoveling ceremonial gravel marking the start of Deh Cho Bridge construction. And