Hunter Tootoo Pros And Cons

The success of Hunter Tootoo in winning his riding can ultimately be condensed to the efforts of the Liberal party. Tootoo had previously run in the 1997 federal election, however, as an NDP candidate (Zerehi, 2015). Moreover, he was the only unilingual candidate running in a bilingual riding where the inability to speak Inuktitut should have alienated him from Indigenous voters (Ibid). Tootoo's scattered political history and inability to communicate with a significant portion of his constituents put him at a disadvantage. It can only be concluded that voters were making their decisions based on political party association. This essay will also focus on the competition between the Liberals and the Conservatives who presented as the Liberal's

Promises were made to invest in reserve housing and infrastructure and Indigenous education programs (Eggertson, 2015: 469). Improving infrastructure and housing can improve the health inequities faced by the Indigenous population. Due to the significant Indigenous demographic within Nunavut, these Indigenous-specific policies made the Liberals appear as the obvious choice, in comparison to the Conservatives who made no promises to the Indigenous population. This contrast with Stephen Harper's term is seen once more when Justin Trudeau promised to launch an investigation into the missing and murdered Indigenous women, "something Harper repeatedly refused to do" (Murphy and Woolf, 2015). Once more, the Liberals demonstrated their potential for change. Both these initiatives taken by the Liberal reflect the pressing concern amongst the Indigenous community. Improvements in housing and infrastructure will increase the quality of life and health care accessibility. Moreover, Trudeau's gendered approach to Indigenous issues resonates with the prevalent gender discrimination and violence that occurs within these communities. Consequently, the Liberals positioned themselves as the favourable alternative to the disengaged

Financing played a crucial role due to the large geographical size of Nunavut and the length of the 2015 election. Political campaigns in the North are more expensive compared to regions like Southern Ontario due to high travel costs. Flights between communities in the North can cost thousands of dollars (Henderson, 2004: 137). A larger geography will also require more staff to simply reach all corners of the riding. Moreover, the 2015 election was both the longest and most expensive campaign in history (Jeffrey, 2015: 30). Evidently, financial resources were crucial in securing the Nunavut riding. The Liberals not only managed to secure twice the funding of the NDP (Ibid: 30), they also spent more than any other party on their campaign (Bryden, 2016). A further analysis of Liberal spending also reveals that Tootoo spent more on the election campaign than any of his fellow candidates ("Liberal Hunter Tootoo spent more than Conservative Leona Aglukkaq on election campaign," 2016). This allowed him to make the necessary travels and hire a team large enough to campaign across Nunavut's vast geography. Furthermore, the Liberals were more strategic about their expenses. By allocating more resources to digital advertising than any other party (Ibid), the Liberals catered to the needs of campaigning in the North. Digital advertisements can be more effective in