Donation limits hamper northern exposure

Last Updated: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 | 2:20 PM ET

CBC News

New election donation rules are causing problems for candidates in the North, where travelling around the ridings is one of the highest costs of campaigning.

Each territory is a single riding and covers hundreds of thousands of square kilometres.

The largest of the three, Nunavut spans three time zones and encompasses two million square kilometres from the North Pole to Ontario's James Bay shore. It has 25 fly-in communities.

For candidates in that riding, buses won't do. They have to fly, and that costs a lot of money.

• RIDING PROFILE: Nunavut
• RIDING PROFILE: Western Arctic
• RIDING PROFILE: Yukon

Conservative candidate David Aglukark had planned to visit most communities in Nunavut, but then he found out that the new rules limit a corporation's campaign contributions to $1,000 per candidate, including in-kind donations such as flight vouchers.

A ticket from Arviat to nearby Rankin Inlet costs nearly $500. A $1,000 voucher from each airline wouldn't get him to all 25 fly-in communities.

"This is going to have a big impact," he said. "The only way to get around to the communities in this part of the territory is by air, and it's very, very costly."

Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell told her colleagues in Ottawa the new rules would hit northern candidates the hardest. She felt the pinch during the 2004 campaign.

But she says the rules will be even harder on candidates who are campaigning for the first time.

"Because I'm more well-known in the region as a sitting member of Parliament I've been in the communities more," she said. "They have to go out and travel to communities maybe they've never even been to yet."

Aglukark will still try to fly to as many communities as he can. But he says he's also hoping to get his message out on the internet and on community radio.