Almost home...

It was generally sunny this morning in Iqaluit. The temperature was about -5 C. The team slept in and gathered at 10:30 AM to check out and then find some breakfast. Annemarie and Keith had been up late last night watching the northern lights. We stopped at a small coffee shop and consulted the map of the city to figure out what we could do before our plane took off.

Since Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut, we decided to visit the Legislative Assembly. It was in a rather unassuming blue building down the street from the coffee shop. When we entered the building, the security guard at the door pointed us to a tour that was already in progress. We joined the group just as they were going to tour the Chamber of the Legislative Assembly. Because the Assembly was not due to sit until the afternoon, we were able to walk around the floor of the Chamber during the tour and take a close look at all of the artifacts and art pieces. This was a rather amazing experience because you do not get to be on the floor of the House in any other legislature. Unfortunately, one member of our team had to be reminded that "we do not touch things that are on other people's desks". Most especially, if the other people are in the midst of very sensitive budget discussions!

The shape of the Chamber is like the inside of an iglu and many northern materials were used in the art and furnishings. Most of the chairs are upholstered in seal skin. There are two carved stone figures which support the Mace when the Assembly is in session. The Mace itself (the symbol of the government) is made from a narwhal tusk. The political system is rather interesting as there are no political parties and the organization is done by consensus. The candidates run on individual platforms in each of the 19 ridings in Nunavut. After the election, the 19 MLAs meet to select the Premier and the cabinet. The government is essentially a permanent minority government where the support of at least two MLAs in addition to the Premier and the cabinet is needed to put through any legislation.

We learned quite a lot from our tour guide and I had an opportunity to explain what we have been doing in Nunavut. Next, we had to get to the airport to catch our flight to Ottawa. The Iqaluit airport was the busiest that any of us had ever seen. There must have been a lot of delayed flights that were all trying to get out at the same time we were scheduled.

The flight to Ottawa was uneventful. We were on a split cargo/passenger jet so this meant we had better food. The choices were Arctic Char, Caribou or pasta. The Caribou was quite good (albeit on the usual airplane food scale). This was followed by warm chocolate chip cookies and Northern Lights coffee. This coffee was a must try for those who like their coffee with quite a bit of a kick! We exchanged digital pictures and Annemarie and I worked on the final website pages during the remainder of the flight.

We arrived in Ottawa on time and tried to convince WestJet and Air Canada that we should get to Toronto as soon as possible. WestJet didn't have any other flights and Air Canada was willing to do it for the low, low price of $150 each! Needless to say, we took the flights that we were originally booked on and got to Toronto by about 9 PM.

Now that all of the intensive phase team members have gotten home, we wish Paul good measuring conditions for the remaining weeks of the campaign. Maybe, he will have better luck getting out of Resolute Bay on schedule...

Best regards,
Kaley.