Liberals, Conservatives announce candidates in Nunavut

Two new candidates have been announced to compete against NDP nominee Lori Idloutin the race to become Nunavut's next member of parliament.

Pat Angnakak will be running to represent the Liberal Party, and LauraMackenziewill run on behalf of the Conservative Party.

Mackenzie, a bilingual Inuk woman raised in Rankin Inlet, has worked in public service for over 15 years, mainly as director of economic development andtransportation programming.

On her Conservative Party candidacy page, Mackenzie says that if elected, she wouldfocus on the need to find funding for housing, mental health and trauma informed therapy.

Angnakak is a sitting two-term MLA in Nunavut. She was elected to Nunavut's legislature in 2013 and re-elected again in 2017 where she was named minister of health, and later housing, before being stripped of the housing portfolio in what Premier Joe Savikataaqcharacterized as a breach of cabinet confidentiality (though Angnakak disputed that characterization).

Angnakak was born inKinngait, formerly known as Cape Dorset, and moved to Iqaluit in 1980. She is fluent in both English and Inuktitut.

So far, Angnakak has not publicly resigned from her role as theMLA for Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu.