February 20, 2004
"I'm strong contender" for premier's job: Curley
Fundamentalist to square
off against Paul Okalik
PATRICIA D'SOUZA
Tagak Curley, acclaimed last month as MLA for Rankin Inlet North, will spend
the next two weeks persuading the new crop of MLAs elected this week that he
should be their next leader.
Curley, who announced his intention to seek the premier's job in November,
shortly after the Human Rights Act passed in the legislative assembly, will
compete against Paul Okalik, who was re-elected Monday as MLA for Iqaluit West.
"My name stands [as a candidate] for the premier's job," Curley said
in an interview Tuesday evening. "The premier's job is a privilege, not
a right. It's up for grabs next month and I'll take part in it."
Although seven incumbents were returned to their seats in this week's election,
Curley said he remains confident in his support.
"My chances remain the same. I am a contender, a strong contender, and
it remains for me to convince as many members as I can. I don't take it for
granted that I'll walk in. I will have to get my message across," he said.
"I'll have an equal chance."
He said his supporters in the assembly will be speaking with their fellow MLAs
over the coming weeks.
"We do have a core group of supporters as well. They're talking to other
MLAs. We're not going to do anything extravagant or anything that's out of the
ordinary. I'm just going to try and make sure that my support base continues
to expand," he said.
Though he would not specify which MLAs he counts as his supporters, they may
include those who share his Christian fundamentalist background and his interest
in overturning the human rights act.
He said he was a little disappointed there weren't more women elected, and
he was surprised that Levi Barnabas was re-elected despite his sexual assault
conviction.
"We have very solid representatives that are very community-supportive
candidates," he said. "Overall, I think the representation is quite
good from the business side, the culture, and advocates of many issues."
He said he is also not surprised that so many of the new MLAs - all but two
- are Inuit.
"We have used the term 'the gloves are off in the second round.' And,
as a result, some of the isolated communities were working very hard to put
in their own people that are representative of the mix of their communities.
I think that was evident yesterday," he said.
"We had a lot of candidates that were really quite committed to their
community," he said. "So they got in, and we're going to work together
to build a future for our children."
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