What can we say about this second pandemic year in the Northwest Territories? It was kind of a drag.
We wore masks, shrunk our social circles and kept kids home from school — again.
We tried to be good all year long, and still got a lump of coal called Omicron.
But COVID-19 wasn’t the only story driving news in 2021.
N.W.T. lawmakers also fed our feeds with scandals, resignations and state of emergency declarations.
What follows is a by-no-means-exhaustive rundown of political stories that made N.W.T. headlines in 2021.
An apology and some allegations
The year in politics got rolling in February, when the Legislative Assembly reconvened, with a high-profile apology.
Premier Caroline Cochrane expressed regret over a handful of senior government officials who travelled outside the territory during the 2020 Christmas holidays after residents were urged to stay put to avoid importing COVID-19.
Cochrane apologized “to the public who have been hurt by this,” adding she hoped all members of the Legislative Assembly would “also be role models and not leave the territory until COVID-19 is done.”
Also in February, one of the territory’s most powerful bureaucrats, Legislative Assembly clerk Tim Mercer, was thrust into the public eye when allegations emerged that he bullied employees and created a toxic work environment.
Mercer said the accusations came from a small number of disgruntled employees, and that an investigation in 2018 dismissed claims against him.
In August, an independent review determined complaints that Mercer bullied and harassed colleagues were unfounded. One complaint, that Mercer breached confidentiality rules, was found to have merit.
The clerk of the N.W.T. legislature, Tim Mercer, pictured here in 2014. An independent review determined that complaints that Mercer bullied and harassed colleagues were unfounded. (CBC)
COVID anniversary, more pandemic spending
March marked one year of the global COVID-19 crisis, and the start of N.W.T.’s campaign to inoculate the general population.
Ahead of the budget’s approval, senior finance officials warned the “current fiscal plan is unsustainable,” with tax revenues expected to fall by almost $40 million, due to COVID-19.
In her speech on the proposed budget, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek defended her fiscal plan, which she said avoided cuts and new taxes.
Wawzonek said the territorial government is a major player in N.W.T.’s economy and “Budget 2021 has no reductions because right now the economy needs support.”
A public inquiry, a threatening Facebook message
In April, Act One opened in what would become the N.W.T.’s stand-out political drama of 2021.
Late on a Thursday night, then-Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Steve Norn said in a statement he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The revelation set off a series of events in which Norn played the hapless lead.
First, he sent mixedmessages to reporters about whether he’d broken isolation rules. Then, an integrity commissioner investigation reported that Norn breached public health orders when he visited the Legislative Assembly and the Yellowknife Racquet Club before the end of his mandatory, post-travel isolation period. The commissioner kicked the matter up to a sole adjudicator.
In a public inquiry held over nine days (and costing more than $800,000), that adjudicator found that Norn violated several sections of the Legislative Assembly’s code of conduct and recommended he be removed from his seat.
Former Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Steve Norn. After he was found to have violated the Legislative Assembly’s code of conduct, Norn apologized for pain he had caused, and resigned. (Travis Burke/CBC)
The inquiry also brought to light a threatening Facebook message Norn sent to his caucus colleagues in which he swore at them “for making my loved ones cry,” and wrote “I’m coming for you.”
Norn said his message was “in no way meant to be a physical threat,” and apologized to his coworkers.
In November, MLAs stated they would accept the adjudicator’s recommendations, but as they prepared to expel Norn, he apologized for pain he had caused, and resigned. (Speaker Frederick Blake Jr. later clarified that Norn’s resignation was invalid.)
Floods and a cabinet shuffle
The spring of 2021 brought devastating floods to the Dehcho and Beaufort Delta regions, with an estimated 700 people displaced in Fort Simpson. Some couldn’t return home for weeks or months.
Community members and MLAs expressed frustration over the government’s response, eroding public confidence in the minister in charge of disaster relief, Paulie Chinna.
It was the second time Chinna was taken off MACA. The first was in April of 2020, after COVID-19 snowballed into an international public health disaster. She was re-installed the following July.
Roughly 700 residents of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., evacuated the community due to severe flooding. (Mario De Ciccio/CBC)
Legislature becomes majority women
June also saw a noteworthy exit from the Legislative Assembly.
Then-Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty announced his resignation after 16 years representing the Tłıchǫ region, and his intentions to run for Tłıchǫ Grand Chief.
A by-election installed Jane Weyallon Armstrong in the Monfwi seat.
Not only was Weyallon Armstrong the first woman elected to represent the riding, but she tipped the gender balance of the Legislative Assembly, making it majority women — a first among Canadian legislatures.
Jane Weyallon Armstrong was the first woman elected to represent the Monfwi riding and her victory tipped the gender balance in the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly. (Chantal Dubuc/CBC)
Marching for lost children
June was also a month of mourning.
Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in B.C. announced in late May it had located unmarked graves of an estimated 215 children near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. On June 4, hundreds marched in Yellowknife to honour children who lost their lives at residential schools.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear, but it’s not shocking,” Inuvik Twin Lakes MLA Lesa Semmler said about the Kamloops grave sites. “As an Indigenous person, many of us have heard stories of what our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents have told us and what they’ve had to endure.”
Semmler also remarked upon Indigenous people’s determination to combat racism “so that this is never forgotten and never repeated.”
In the fall, Cochrane said the government could help Indigenous communities “in developing strategies for recording unmarked burial sites at residential schools” and “leveraging federal funding and resources.”
Hundreds took to the streets of Yellowknife on June 4, 2021, to honour children who died at residential schools. (Avery Zingel/CBC)
Day shelter debated, again
In 2021, Yellowknife was again embroiled in a dispute over where to put an additional day shelter.
The previous year, the city’s day shelter cut capacity as a COVID-19 precaution. Without that space for people to go during winter, and with pushback from businesses that didn’t want a shelter in their backyard, then-MACA Minister Paulie Chinna took what she called an “extraordinary step” and declared a state of emergency in Yellowknife.
The move allowed the government to seize the downtown Mine Rescue Building for a temporary day shelter.
But the building wasn’t meant to be a lasting solution, and when temperatures warmed, the state of emergency lifted, and the temporary day shelter closed.
At the time, Health Minister Julie Green said she hoped to find an alternative space before Oct. 1, 2021. But when October arrived, a new spot had yet to be secured.
Ultimately, the government once again resorted to declaring a state of emergency so it could build a temporary day shelter where the city’s old visitors’ centre used to be.
Yellowknife’s temporary day shelter going up at the site of the former visitors’ centre. This day shelter is meant to operate until 2024, when a permanent space is set to open. (April Hudson/CBC)
Another apology and a high note
The year in politics closed out like it began: with an apology.
Beyond the disruption this continues to cause for parents, the closure is expected to drain the N.W.T. government’s coffers of more than $1 million.
It was admittedly difficult to keep one’s chin up this year. Good news would land — the vaccines, the loosening of restrictions — and then there’d be an outbreak, our loved ones would get sick, and we’d have to cancel plans.
As the territory braces for a tsunami of new COVID-19 cases, it will be hard to celebrate the dawn of 2022 with the ebullience of New Year’s Eves past.
But we’re determined to end the year on a high note.
So please, read this story and watch its extremely adorable videos of toddlers dancing the jig in Tuktoyaktuk.
And here’s to more small moments of pure joy in 2022.
Giselle Kimiksana, left, Elias Gordon-Ruben, centre, and Eva Raddi-Felix were all entered in the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk’s online jigging competition this year. (Caroline Jane/Facebook, Tianna Gordon-Ruben/Facebook, Crystal Raddi/Facebook)
With files from Richard Gleeson, Natalie Pressman, Hannah Paulson, Liny Lamberink, Loren McGinnis, Avery Zingel and John Last.
The New Brunswick Liberal Party has won a majority government, and Susan Holt will become the first woman to lead the province.
Here’s the latest from election night. All times are ADT.
10:15 p.m.
The results of the New Brunswick election are in, and with virtually all of the ballots counted, the Liberals won 31 seats out of 49.
The Progressive Conservatives won 16 seats.
The Green Party won two.
Voter turnout was about 66 per cent.
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10 p.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has congratulated New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt for her party’s victory in the provincial election.
Trudeau says on the X platform he’s looking forward to working with Holt to build more homes, protect the country’s two official languages, and improve health care.
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9:48 p.m.
During her victory speech tonight in Fredericton, New Brunswick premier-designate Susan Holt thanked all the women who came before her.
Holt will become the first woman to lead the province after her party won a majority government in the New Brunswick election.
The Liberals are elected or leading in 31 of 49 ridings.
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9:30 p.m.
Blaine Higgs says he will begin a transition to replace him as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.
After being in power for six years, the Tories lost the election to the Liberals.
Higgs, who lost his seat of Quispamsis, says, “My leadership days are over.”
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9:17 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick since 2016, has lost in the riding of Quispamsis.
Higgs, 70, has been premier of New Brunswick since 2018, and was first elected to the legislature in 2010.
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8:45 p.m.
When asked about the election results, Progressive Conservative chief of staff Paul D’Astous says that over the last 18 months the party has had to contend with a number of caucus members who disagreed with its policy.
D’Astous says the Tories have also had to own what happened over the last six years, since they came to power in 2018, adding that the voters have spoken.
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8:39 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that David Coon, leader of the New Brunswick Green Party, has won the riding of Fredericton Lincoln.
Coon, 67, has been leader of the party since 2014, the year he was first elected to the legislature.
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8:36 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that the New Brunswick Liberal Party has won a majority government in the provincial election.
Party leader Susan Holt will become the first woman premier in the province’s history.
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8:20 p.m.
Early returns show a number of close races across the province, with the Liberals off to an early lead.
Liberal campaign manager Katie Davey says the results will show whether party leader Susan Holt, a relative newcomer, was able to capture the attention and trust of the people of New Brunswick.
Davey says she believes voters have welcomed Holt and her message, which focused on pocketbook issues, especially health care.
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8 p.m.
Polls have closed.
Eyes will be on a number of key ridings including Fredericton South-Silverwood, where Liberal Leader Susan Holt is vying for a seat; Saint John Harbour, which has been competitive between the Tories and Liberals in recent elections; and Moncton East, a redrawn Tory-held riding that the Liberals have targeted.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three, there was one Independent and there were four vacancies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
FREDERICTON – A look at Susan Holt, premier-designate and leader of the New Brunswick Liberal party.
Born: April 22, 1977.
Early years: Raised in Fredericton, she attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and then spent a year in Toronto before moving abroad for three years, spending time in Australia and India.
Education: Earned a bachelor of arts in economics and a bachelor of science in chemistry from Queen’s University.
Family: Lives in Fredericton with her husband, Jon Holt, and three young daughters.
Hobbies: Running, visiting the farmers market in Fredericton with her family every Saturday.
Before politics: CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council, civil servant, business lobbyist, advocate, consultant and executive with an IT service company that trains and employs Indigenous people.
Politics: Worked as an adviser to former Liberal premier Brian Gallant. Won the leadership of the provincial Liberal party in August 2022 and was elected to the legislature in an April 2023 byelection.
Quote: “We don’t take it lightly that you have put your trust in myself and my team, and you have hope for a brighter future. But that hope I know is short-lived and it will be on us to deliver authentically, on the ground, and openly and transparently.” — Susan Holt, in her speech to supporters in Fredericton after the Liberals won a majority government on Oct. 21, 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick voters have elected a Liberal majority government, tossing out the incumbent Progressive Conservatives after six years in power and handing the reins to the first woman ever to lead the province.
Liberal Leader Susan Holt is a relative newcomer to the province’s political scene, having won a byelection last year, eight months after she became the first woman to win the leadership of the party.
The Liberals appeared poised to take 31 of 49 seats to the Conservatives’ 16 and the Greens two.
Holt, 47, led the Liberals to victory after a 33-day campaign, thwarting Blaine Higgs’s bid to secure a third term as Tory premier.
The Liberal win marks a strong repudiation of Higgs’s pronounced shift to more socially conservative policies.
Higgs, meanwhile, lost in his riding of Quispamsis. In a speech to supporters in the riding, he confirmed that he would begin a leadership transition process.
As the Liberals secured their majority, Green Party Leader David Coon thanked his supporters and pledged to continue building the party, but he then turned his sights on the premier. “One thing is for sure,” he told a crowd gathered at Dolan’s Pub in Fredericton, “we know that Blaine Higgs is no longer the premier of this province.”
The election race was largely focused on health care and affordability but was notable for the remarkably dissimilar campaign styles of Holt and Higgs. Holt repeatedly promised to bring a balanced approach to governing, pledging a sharp contrast to Higgs’s “one-man show taking New Brunswick to the far right.”
“We need a government that acts as a partner and not as a dictator from one office in Fredericton,” she said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
Higgs focused on the high cost of living, promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent — a pledge that will cost the province about $450 million annually.
Holt spent much of the campaign rolling out proposed fixes for a health-care system racked by a doctor shortage, overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait-times. A former business advocate and public servant, she promised to open 30 community health clinics across the province by 2028; remove the provincial sales tax from electricity bills; overhaul mental health services; and impose a three per cent cap on rent increases by 2025.
The 70-year-old Tory leader, a mechanical engineer and former Irving Oil executive, led a low-key campaign, during which he didn’t have any scheduled public events on at least 10 days — and was absent from the second leaders debate on Oct. 9.
Holt missed only two days of campaigning and submitted a 30-page platform with 100 promises, a far heftier document than the Tories’ two-page platform that includes 11 pledges.
When the election was called on Sept. 19, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Green Party had three, there was one Independent and four vacancies. At least 25 seats are needed for a majority.
Higgs was hoping to become the first New Brunswick premier to win three consecutive elections since Liberal Frank McKenna won his third straight majority in 1995. But it was clear from the start that Higgs would have to overcome some big obstacles.
On the first day of the campaign, a national survey showed he had the lowest approval rating of any premier in the country. That same morning, Higgs openly mused about how he was perceived by the public, suggesting people had the wrong idea about who he really is.
“I really wish that people could know me outside of politics,” he said, adding that a sunnier disposition might increase his popularity. “I don’t know whether I’ve got to do comedy hour or I’ve got to smile more.”
Still, Higgs had plenty to boast about, including six consecutive balanced budgets, a significant reduction in the province’s debt, income tax cuts and a booming population.
Higgs’s party was elected to govern in 2018, when the Tories formed the province’s first minority government in almost 100 years. In 2020, he called a snap election — marking the first province to go to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic — and won a slim majority.
Since then, 14 Tory caucus members have stepped down after clashing with the premier, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on conservative policies that represented a hard shift to the right.
A caucus revolt erupted last year after Higgs announced changes to the gender identity policy in schools. When several Tory lawmakers voted for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from cabinet. A bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
Higgs has also said a Tory government would reject all new applications for supervised drug-consumption sites, renew a legal challenge against the federal carbon pricing scheme and force people into drug treatment if authorities deem they “pose a threat to themselves or others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
