Ethel will be in cabinet, pledges PM

Paul Martin has pledged to return Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew to cabinet if she's re-elected and the Liberals form the next government.

The Liberal Leader made the promise during a recorded telephone interview with CBC, as he spent part of this week trying to bolster the five-time MP's re-election prospects.

Blondin-Andrew, who won by only 53 votes in the 2004 election, faces stiff competition again this time.

Martin praised the junior minister's contribution to her constituency and the country as a whole, and said Blondin-Andrew has too much ability to waste in the back benches.

"She plays such a large role and she goes across so many government departments, I mean she's got so much experience now and she is so skilled," he says.

But Kirby Marshall, the campaign manager for Conservative candidate Richard Edjericon, views it differently.

"People will see it for what it is, a simple act of desperation on the part of Ethel Blondin-Andrew. Northerners really do want change."

Western Arctic New Democrats contrast Martin's brief telephone appearances with their party leader's in-the-flesh visit to the riding two weeks ago.

Dennis Bevington's campaign manager says it shows who really has the territory's interests at heart.

"We weren't important enough to warrant an actual visit from the prime minister so now he's appealed to the media to do an interview from afar," says Mark Heyck.

Martin says the interviews were motivated by "a long-standing love affair" with the region, and points to his very first trip outside Ottawa as a newly elected prime minister as proof. It was tour of the N.W.T. with Blondin-Andrew.

Blondin-Andrew's opponents claim that was to bolster her as well, after the narrowest election win in the 2004 race.