Inuvik: The body that runs elections in the Northwest Territories (NWT) on Monday said an election scheduled for October has been delayed for six weeks because of wildfires.
In a release, Elections NWT said territorial leaders made the move after a special legislative session that decided to send territorial residents to the polls on November 14.
The territory had been scheduled to go to the polls on October 3.
But because of massive evacuations in several communities and general safety concerns, the NWT’s chief electoral officer had suggested that it should be pushed until November.
The legislature also pushed forward a $75-million special assessment for firefighting in the territory, an amount that dwarfs its average budget of about $20 million.
Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek said the extra spending is going to put a serious dent in the N.W.T.’s public finances. — Canadian Press