No vote by Nunavut MLAs on Tootoo

Updated June 4

Nunavut MLAs did not vote as expected June 3 on a motion to remove Housing Minister Hunter Tootoo from cabinet.

The motion, tabled by Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik and South Baffin MLA Fred Schell, was on the order paper for June 3 and 4, but Okalik, the mover, did not rise to begin debate.

Speaking to reporters June 3, Okalik wouldn’t say why he didn’t seek a vote. Motions that aren’t debated and voted on within two days fall off the assembly’s order paper.

But Okalik denied he was talked out of it by his fellow MLAs.

“My colleagues all understand that there has to be some changes and they expect change to take place,” he said. Short of sacking Tootoo as housing minister he wouldn’t say what those changes should be.

Tootoo told reporters June 4 he’d rather face questions from MLAs about the $60-million cost overrun at the Nunavut Housing Corporation, than debate his own political future.

“They (MLAs) have a right to ask those questions,” he said. “The public has a right to know. The members have a right to know.”

Schell, who seconded the motion June 1, said he didn’t know why Okalik didn’t bring the motion forward for debate June 3. But he said he’d prefer to get back to talking about why the $200-million Nunavut Housing Trust went so far over budget.

“I can guarantee you over the next week there will be lots of questions asked of Hunter Tootoo on the housing front,” he said.

Tootoo also said Premier Eva Aariak gave cabinet ministers no instructions on how to vote on the motion.

Readers on the websites of both Nunatsiaq News and CBC North were mostly opposed to Okalik’s motion to pull Tootoo from cabinet. But Okalik said he didn’t receive any calls from constituents about the issue.

“There’s always hostility towards me, it doesn’t matter what I do,” he said.