Former Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson wants his job back.
In an exclusive interview with Inuvik Drum, he explained his rationale for once again throwing his hat in the ring.
"I had a lot of people asking me if I would run again because they didn't want to see someone acclaimed," he said. "I thought about it for quite awhile, I was quite enjoying retired life and not having to show up at the office.
"But then I thought three years goes by pretty quickly."
A key element of the job, said Clarkson, was collaboration with other stakeholders, particularly the Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). He said he felt there was room to improve communication among the three parties.
Clarkson, who served as a GNWT regional director for 14 years, also said he believes the town could be better supporting current federal infrastructure projects and working with the GNWT on regional projects.
"At one point we were getting an expansion to our long-term care facility, that seems to have been put on the shelf," he said, also noting there are ongoing questions about the Canadian Armed Forces' plans for expansion locally. "The minister made some announcements, but we haven't seen the details yet. What will that mean for diversifying the economy, for jobs in Inuvik?"
He said he wants to see what could be done to help the GTC and IRC with their housing projects, noting the town is currently facing a serious shortage of homes.
Clarkson highlighted infrastructure as the central issue facing the town, particularly the ongoing issues with the Midnight Sun Complex.
"The rec complex is a huge issue as far as the building moving SA国际影视传媒� so looking at some of those things and being proactive with some of the maintenance to make sure that those facilities last us a long time," he said. "There's not a lot of money out there right now for recreation facilities, so we've got to take care of what we've got and make sure it continues to serve the youth and other residents."
Noting the municipality doesn't have a mandate to deal with major social problems like homelessness and addictions, he said there are things the town could be doing to support the GNWT in its efforts to deal with such issues.
To facilitate better collaboration, Clarkson is proposing to establish a leadership council similar to that in Fort Smith, which would involve the GTC, IRC, the GNWT, the Inuvik Native Band and the Metis.
The other major issue Clarkson said he wants to tackle is the state of Inuvik's roads, both within its borders and outside of them.
"We get a little bit of tourism, and that's been growing, but I think there's some things we can do to make Inuvik more welcoming," he said. "The roads are brutal. The road to Inuvik-Tuk, we went there with our holiday trailer, it took four hours to get there, four hours to get home. I just talked to Rocky's Plumbing yesterday SA国际影视传媒� three-and-a-half hours in their four-by-four truck to get there.
"I think we need to be able to work with Tuk, the territorial government and the contractors to make sure that road is in reasonable shape. Same with the Dempster. Is this a territorial government problem? Is this a government problem and contractor problem? Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed," he said.
Inuvik Drum spoke to incumbent Mayor Clarence Wood in the Sept. 5 edition. You can read that story here.
The advance vote for the municipal election is Oct. 11 and election day is Oct. 21.
