4 candidates vie for seat on Iqaluit council

At the Nunavut election polls on Monday, people in Iqaluit will also have the chance to vote for a city councillor.

A municipal by-election is underway to fill a vacant seat left when councillor Jimmy Kilabuk died earlier this year.

Stephen Mansell is one of the by-election candidates trying to get his message out over the din of a territorial election campaign. Instead of going door-to-door, many of the municipal candidates are campaigning through social media.

"When you think of it, the territorial candidates have less to do than the municipal candidates," he said.

Mansell has previously been a city councillor. After a break, he says he's ready to be back.

Mansell is in favour of the new aquatic centre but wants to make sure the project doesn't get out of control. 

Candidate Lewis Falkiner MacKay also supports the project but wants referendums to include more than just homeowners.

"In the future, one option would be to hold two simultaneous referendums," he said. "'Will the rate payers allow the city to borrow the money' and 'is this a priority project for all Iqalummiut?'"

Falkiner MacKay wasn't successful in last year's municipal election, and neither was candidate Noah Papatsie.

Papatsie says he's running for Jimmy Kilabuk.

"He was totally supportive of Sustainable Iqaluit, so that sounds really good right now so I'm totally in support of it," he said.

The fourth candidate, Douglas Cox, couldn't be reached for an interview because he is out of town.