So, you think you can fight?

I love getting messages from our programming department, and here is one I think some readers may be interested in.

Think you can fight? Give Warriors TKO a shot. Why do I think they would get a kick out of having an Inuk on the show this time out. Check out the poster:



It sure would give me an excuse to do a story about any Inuk who qualified for the show... and a better reason for Inuit to tune in.

I hope they sit together

From today's National Post:

That breakthrough alone clinches Ms. Shea a cabinet gig as the province's government insider. But her apparently scandal-free performance as a P.E.I. cabinet minister makes Ms. Shea the surest bet as a rookie MP becoming a minister.

Runner-up for that claim is Leona Aglukkaq, the first Conservative MP elected for Nunavut. She might not be ready for a stand-alone portfolio --a one-term cabinet-equivalent gig in the territorial government is simply not in the same league as leading a large federal department -- but she has roots in a variety of public service roles that appear solid enough to rate being tested in a junior job.

It sounds about right. After Ms Aglukkaq came to our office for her "over the satellite" interview with one of our anchors, I used the chance to get in a personal message.

When you get to Ottawa look up Gail Shea.

Both of you are women coming from areas without strong Tory history, and are the only person in the party to represent a large group, Northerners for Leona and PEImiut for Gail, and both have served in a cabinet.

The other reason I suggested it, is because I know both of them professionally. I worked in Western PEI before coming here, and reported extensively on Ms Shea. The two have many personaility traits in common (both positive and negative, but they do match up nicely).

Turns out, the two know each other already, from Status of Women meetings. Ms Aglukkaq was quite pleased when she heard that Gail had won. Gail was also the only person I knew who had been to Nunavut before I moved here, and was effusive in her praise of -- as the Premier is wont to say -- "the good people of Nunavut".

The description of Gail as "scandal free" has at least one newspaper editor I know jumping up and down in rage... see, there was this thing called Polar Foods, where a bunch of fish plant owners collapsed the lobster processing industry on PEI, and ripped off the government for more than $20 million.

It hurt Gail's riding pretty badly. Some would call it a scandal. I would have at the time. Upon reflection, I feel more like all Islanders got mugged by some fish plant owners, due to a pretty lax loan guarantee system on PEI. She has to wear at least some of it, her government guaranteed the loans.

Watch me drop a name here. When I was travelling to Alert with Def. Min. Peter McKay, I interviewed him in front of the weather station up there. We are doing the bit where you take a long shot of the two people talking, for cutaways -- a two shot for TV geeks. McKay was the Minister responsible for PEI, since they didn't elect any Torys.

I usually make small talk, or crack a joke. For McKay, I simply said, "Do you think Gail has a shot in Egmont?" I figured a PEI Inside Baseball question would be a good way to break the ice.

He did laugh, and told a great story about driving through snowstorm from Pictou to Tignish for a fundraiser, going to the Legion in Tignish, and ending up on stage with Ms Shea in some sort of skit, where she was in costume and cracking jokes.

I thoguht to myself, "Wow, you really have been to Tignish."

I hope they both get into cabinet, mostly because I don't perceive either of them as being Reform Party based right wing lunatics. They may just be sneaking two Progressive Conservatives into cabinet... couldn't hurt.

Coming in two parts

Wow.... three hours of tape is a whole lot of tape.

So, here is what I did. I broke it into two parts:

Tonight in Part 1 -- lots of Sheutiapik and Okalik, with a dash of Glenn Williams and Madeleine Redfern. Good clips always force their way in.

Tomorrow in Part 2 -- everybody else

Basically, I couldn't get all the candidates into Part 1, and wanted to make sure everyone is in the story.

If you only listened on radio, you missed half of the show. Body language, demeanor and attentiveness go a long way to showing someone's views.

Tonight at 7 EST for our Northern viewers, 6 EST for those in the South. For Express-Vu customers, 7 EST on Channel 270, 6 EST on Channel 269.

I just looked at the line-up for the rest of the show, and it looks like we have a good one tonight (we have a good one every night, some good is just better than other good).

Buffy St. Marie, Chief Phil Fontaine, Part III of our Yellowknife Bureau's fantastic look at NWT Foster Care, an all-aboriginal Junior B hockey team, and why the heck did the Justice in change of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission quit yesterday?

Tune in, turn on, and save your criticisms until after you have seen both parts ;)

What I asked

I love the AFN for giving me a chance to ask some good questions, and for being all around generally good people.

Also, I am going into the business of concrete steps, as almost question asked for them. Driscoll's Concrete Steps, coming soon to a location near you.

Almost four fours in the building, three for the debate, I have a lot of tape to look at, so with no further delay, here are the qusetions I asked, and of whom:

Iqaluit West: Sheutiapik and Okalik

1 – One of Premier Okalik’s platform planks is taking credit for Nunavut’s “successful” economy. According to Statistics Canada, the average income for a family in Nunavut is 49,270, the Canadian average is 63,866. StatsCan also said that in 2005, two-thirds of Nunavummiut reported not having enough food during the previous year due to lack of money, nearly four times the national average. My question, do you think Nunavut’s economy is doing well, and what can be done to help those who do not benefit from it?

Iqaluit Center: Sageatook, Redfern and Tootoo

2 – The Auditor General of Canada said this of Nunavut government, “"We found numerous cases of non-compliance with Nunavut's financial laws, including seeking the legislative assembly's approval to spend money after it had already been spent.” She also said , “"Current financial management is weak and fragile. Six years after Nunavut's creation, I am surprised how slowly financial management has improved." The report even included a section about the GN titled “A History of Breaking the Rules.” What would you do to make the Government of Nunavut meet it’s basic, legislated, fiscal responsibility to Nunavummiut?

Iqaluit East: Peter, Williams and Ariak

3 – Iqaluit is growing rapidly. Overcrowding is a huge issue here in the capital. So is crime, between the now frequent notices from RCMP of untreated violent criminals choosing to live in Iqaluit, to the Nunavut wide fact that a person is 12 times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault here, compared to the rest of the Canada. The RCMP are paid to police this community, yet haven’t delivered a report to City Council in eight months. Since you are all running to represent Iqaluit, what concrete steps would you take to make Iqaluit safer, healthier and all in all a better place to live?

Political Free For All

For Iqaluit based voters, we have an interesting proposition for you. At 7:30 Monday night at the always accomadating Francophone Center, there will be an All Iqaluit Canadidates Forum.

The questions will be provided by local journalists, three of whom you can see right here:


Photo (as well as my bad ass new header photo) Courtesy of Kate Nova

Would you want to face off against a panel like that? I guess that the candidates do.

My question for you, dear readers, is: What do you want me to ask them about?

I'm never at a shortage for questions, but I am interested in what you would ask them. When you spend too much looking at the small strokes, sometimes the bigger picture can get blurry.

I get three questions, and the other two clowns in that picture each get two. I have a pretty good idea what my first one will be, but I have all weekend to come up with bulletproof questions that can not be ignored, talked around or otherwise politicked. Help a brother out.

Come on down. Monday, Francophone Center. 7:30 PM. Punch and Pie

EDITOR'S NOTE: There likely will not be punch and pie.

Why the election blackout is stupid

Fact: Polls close at 9:30 Eastern in Iqaluit

Fact: I'm sitting in my office in Iqaluit, watching many channels

Fact: On Iqaluit cable, you get NTV from Newfoundland

Fact: If I was home, I would have local channels from all over the country on satellite

Fact: Even though the polls are open here, I'm getting the results from Atlantic Canada, on regular old cable

Fact: If I posted said results here, I'd be breaking a law

Opinion: That is a pretty stupid system

My electronic TOWER OF BABEL

Since polls don't close until 9:30 EST, I had some time on my hands at the office today.

I hooked up three TV's, an internet terminal, a white board and the radio to my ELECTRONIC TOWER OF BABEL.

Then I get a phone call from the show.

"Hey Kent, want to do a 2 minute de-brief about the time zone thing with the Nunavut election?"

"Sure I do, and boy oh boy, do I have a background."

When Master Control shouted out "Holy S*%^", I knew I had it made :)

Tonight, 6 Eastern, see what i made :)