Nunavut Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo: Conservatives 'buying votes'

Nunavut Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo is accusing Leona Aglukkaq and the Conservative Party of buying votes by putting out several rushed announcements over the weekend.

"Why now? All of a sudden there's money, before there was nothing. They're trying to buy people's votes, and to me that's pretty pathetic. I mean, I think people see through that," he said.

Nunavut Conservative candidate Leona Aglukkaq promised funding for arts and culture, and the tourism and sealing industries:

• $215,000 for arts
• $260,000 for the sealing industry
• $840,000 for tourism

The announcements included spelling mistakes — even the common "Iqualuit" misspelling — and missing fields in the press release templates.

"This campaign is the longest since the 1800s, and it's costing taxpayers millions of dollars," Tootoo said.

So far, the Liberals have yet to announce any funding for Nunavut.

They have also not yet committed to maintaining the funding for the projected Iqaluit port should Tootoo win the seat.

"I'm having a meeting at headquarters tomorrow and that's one of the issues I'm going to be talking about," he said.

"In my own personal view, if the money's been committed, it'll be there."

In response to Tootoo's comments, Aglukkaq said in a statement that the Conservative government "has done more for the North than any other government in Canadian history. We have made record investments to develop critical Northern infrastructure, build new housing for Nunavummiut and their families and grow Nunavut's tourism sector and economy.

"Unfortunately the Liberals have voted against these funding initiatives for Nunavut and are instead proposing a dangerous carbon tax that would increase the cost of living and food for Nunavummiut," Aglukkaq said. "Hunter and the Liberal party should be supporting these types of investments that help Nunavummiut instead of criticizing them."