NDP’s Northern Candidates Reflect on Victory
Thursday, November 06, 2003 at 15:47
The first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the provincial legislature thinks the credibility factor played a role in the NDP’s sweep of the northern ridings.
Joan Beatty is taking over from the now-retired Keith Goulet in the Cumberland constituency after a sizable victory in yesterday’s voting.
Beatty says northern residents took a look at what the various parties were offering, and decided the NDP were more likely to come through with their election promises.
Meantime, Beatty’s NDP counterpart in the Athabasca riding, Buckley Belanger, secured another term in office with a large margin of victory, as well.
Belanger says even though the North has been an NDP stronghold for several years, and the NDP captured a large percentage of the votes again yesterday, he pledges the NDP will not take the North’s support for granted.
Voter turnout was up considerably in both northern ridings. In Athabasca, voter participation was up by 16 per cent over the last election. Meantime, in the Cumberland riding, voter turnout was up 37 per cent.