Nunavut spending bill seeks $338M in capital projects
Money would be spent across the territory over the next five years
Community and Government Services Minister David Joanasie says his department will spend about 30 per cent of its portion of the capital estimates on critical infrastructure projects. (File photo by Mélanie Ritchot)
The Government of Nunavut is considering $338 million in spending over the next five years on a list of capital projects across the territory.
That’s according to its Capital Estimates, also called Bill 10, tabled in Nunavut’s legislative assembly on Wednesday.
If MLAs approve the bill, the largest portion of its spending — $110 million — would go the Nunavut Housing Corp. About $103 million, the second-largest amount, will go to the Department of Community and Government Services.
David Joanasie, the minister for community and government services, appeared before the assembly’s committee of the whole on Wednesday to discuss how his department’s portion of the money would be spent.
About 30 per cent of the department’s money will go toward critical infrastructure projects in seven communities, including:
- $187,000 for design of a modern water treatment plant to replace the current pumphouse in Arctic Bay.
- $2 million toward construction of a new water treatment plant in Grise Fiord.
- $698,000 for upgrades to the water intake in Kugluktuk.
- $2.7 million to begin planning and design work to replace water and sewer mains in Rankin Inlet
- $650,000 to begin the design and construction of a replacement of Nuvuk Sewage Lift Station in Rankin Inlet.
- $18.7 million to continue construction and renewal of local water and wastewater piping systems in Rankin Inlet.
- $275,000 to proceed with the design of a wastewater treatment plant in Resolute Bay.
- $188,000 to begin design on a new water treatment plant in Sanikiluaq.
- $450,000 to begin design work on new/upgraded lagoon to treat wastewater in Sanikiluaq.
Joanasie also said his department wants to put $1.2 million toward a new maintenance garage in Kinngait, $6.6 million to begin construction on Sanikiluaq’s new hamlet office and $2.6 million to replace fire trucks in Igloolik, Clyde River, Sanikiluaq and Resolute Bay.
Another $13 million would go to the design and construction of a new tank farm in Arviat and $4 million will go to Iqaluit for water infrastructure, roads and sewer upgrades.
And, $14 million would be used to begin construction on the Government of Nunavut’s fibre link internent connection to southern Canada. Construction of that project is expected to begin in 2023-24, with completion in 2025-26, Joanasie said.
MLAs will debate the bill during the fall sitting of the legislative assembly, which runs until Nov. 10.
GN sure has a lot of money, unfortunately a lot of it doesn’t stay in Nunavut and it doesn’t go far.
The system in place is to benefit the contractors and consultants with ridiculous profits and no interest by the GN to build capacity in Nunavut.
The list of needed infrastructure seems to be never-ending.
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How about creating an Infrastructure division, possibly within CGS, to do the necessary design and engineering work? This would create a career path for Nunavut graduates to acquire the needed skills, so, eventually, Nunavut will not need to contract everything out to southern firms?
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Consider it an investment in Nunavut’s future.
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Let’s stop thinking and acting like a colony.
You can double check, but I think CGS already has an infrastructure branch. Some of its employees are indeed professionals (including engineering and architecture) and/or have other relevant backgrounds and certifications. A challenge is that many in Nunavut underestimate, downplay, or just plain ignore how hard it is to get these degrees (or any degree / designation) in the best of conditions – strong K-12 education, supportive families, financial aid, other skills like time management and academic discipline, mental wellness, independence, etc. It’s a lot harder if you start without these supports. Achieving professional degrees is absolutely achievable by many in Nunavut-and government has a role in helping in some ways. However, until Nunavut’s graduates choose such professions – and put in the time and effort to earn them – it’s not just a matter of government creating new divisions or jobs.
Getting degrees is not that hard!
You tube Asha Tomlinson’s CBC investigates, fake degrees!
Is that how you got your degree? Your generalization is an insult to those of us who actually spent several years of our lives and tens of thousands of dollars to get those degrees. Then again, if watching TV is the most research you’ve ever done, it shows.
Well-said. Nunavut shouldn’t even be thinking about these kinds of things until the graduation rate can be brought up to a decent level. The vast majority of Nunavut students never even complete high school. To talk about Engineering degrees & whatnot when 80% of kids drop out is crazy.
If you want to stop acting like a colony you’ll stop expecting Ottawa to build and fund everything for you.
The GN wants to continue as a colony based on how they do things.
24 million dollars in work in Rankin Inlet.
How much was that New Arena?
Ole Boys Club keep the money in those Regions
Nu gov got nothing for it’s people just a bunch of well wishers saying this and that
Maybe if “dollars for nothing” is the headline for Nunavut it would get somewhere No wonder inuit don’t like the territory and all the brightest smartest inuit are Leaving the territory for an awesome life down south ! All of our sectors in government are only in it for money . Our mlas don’t even know what’s going on !
You really cannot fault the best and brightest Inuit for leaving. When they first graduate they are thrust into positions supervising people when in fact they have never managed people before with no supports on how to lead a team, then are blamed by those under them for being “out to get them” because they are educated. If they are good at what they do (and many of them are) they get pushed into more senior roles and are criticized as rish entileded or for not following the traditional way. They are leaving because they are appreciated by their employers in the south and are not pulled down by the community around them. We need to stop vilifying educated Inuit and support them!
Inuit,attacking Inuit,right joe.
$14M for fiber internet for Iqaluit. Wow. Given the critical, life sustaining things that need to be built and repaired up here, it is disappointing that this project is still on the books. In an era when Starlink controlled drones are taking out Russian military targets, is this at all necessary? It just does not seem to be getting through to the elites in our capital how desperate housing, water and health needs are. Why do we have to suffer their pet projects? $14M is just the start, it will be tens of millions more to actually install the undersea lines – how many houses does that represent? What about supporting Kivalliq Fiber instead? Any fiber anywhere up here will help take the load off the satellites. If anyone wanted proof of how paper thin the 3,000 home promise made by this government is, this project surely is it.
$14,000,000 is just the first instalment. Total figure is estimated at over $210,000,000, assuming no cost overruns and assuming CGS’s IT staff suddenly develop the capacity to oversee such a technically challenging project.
It makes no sense for the GN to to take $210 million away from other needs like health centres, elders homes, water and sewage infrastructure and power plants that are beyond their planned life expectancies. Not when the private sector is lining up with LEO satellite constellations and new Arctic fiber optic routes.
Even Health Minister John Main is on the record stating he has no faith in CGS’s capacity to manage such a project successfully.
So why?
Is this about the betterment of Nunavut or a few Nunacrat IT jocks looking to get something sexy on their resumes at crippling expense to the territory?
So many unasked and unanswered questions.
This is starting to feel like CGS’s Iqaluit airport project that they put on rails and delivered a half billion dollar airport to service one airline. That one still smells funny from a mile away.
The small communities should be exploding with rage at nearly a third of Nunavut’s infrastructure money going to fund a project that only connects Iqaluit.
We need some answers.