4 spending bills passed as legislative assembly nears close

Nunavut MLAs approved spending on clean water infrastructure and money to keep the government operating as the winter sitting of the Nunavut legislature neared its close this week.

Commissioner Eva Aariak gave assent to the first four bills of the seventh assembly Tuesday afternoon.

The capital plan, which outlines $373.2 million in purchases and construction projects, was the sitting’s primary focus as MLAs reviewed how the government would allocate that money across 11 departments for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which starts April 1.

“We will see brand new water treatment plans, solid waste facilities and whatnot to help all of our communities,” said Community Services Minister Craig Simailak after MLAs approved his department’s $128.5-million capital budget Monday.

“The plan is to see less boil-water advisories and in protecting our environment.”

Simailak’s department is taking one-third – the largest share – of the total capital budget. Part of that money is to go toward improving water treatment services in Grise Fiord, Pond Inlet, Sanikiluaq, Clyde River, Arctic Bay and Coral Harbour.

Other departments set to take significant portions of the budget are Nunavut Housing Corp. at $87.2 million and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure at $72.5 million.

MLAs also approved a $724.9 million interim operations and maintenance budget for 2026-27.

This budget ensures the government continues to operate and pay employees until the full budget is approved in the spring sitting, which is set to begin in May, said Premier John Main, who is also the finance minister.

The operations and maintenance budget is usually passed in fall, but was delayed last year by the October 2025 territorial election.

“Our goal was to provide enough funding so that each department could operate as usual without engaging in new initiatives,” Main told MLAs Tuesday.

The other two bills are supplementary bills, which cover additional capital and operating costs for the fiscal year ending March 31. The capital bill totals $41.9 million while the operations bill totals $158.6 million.

After signing the bills into law, Aariak prorogued the assembly until Thursday afternoon when MLAs are set to meet for a final time this sitting.

Main is also expected to present the government’s mandate and Aariak is set to read the speech from the throne before the end of this sitting.