MLAs to vote this month on Nunavut share of Iqaluit port funding

Nunavut’s finance department is putting forward a supplementary appropriation bill sometime this winter sitting, which runs until March 23. It will allow members to vote on Nunavut’s $21 million share of the Iqaluit port project price tag. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavut’s legislative assembly will vote on its contribution towards the construction of Iqaluit’s new deep water port before the winter sitting ends March 23, Economic Development and Tranportation Minister Monica Ell-Kanayuk confirmed this week.

The finance department plans to forward a supplementary appropriation bill, which will allow members to vote on Nunavut’s $21 million share of the project.

The bill’s approval is key to Nunavut securing the federal government’s $63 million contribution towards the project.

“That will come in the house before the end of the session,” Ell-Kanayuk said of the financing bill.

“As soon as that discussion happens — and if the legislative assembly members agree to that submission — we can move forward to signing the agreement,” she said, referring to the formal contribution agreement to be signed by both Nunavut and Ottawa.

“I can’t foresee what’s going to happen with the vote, but if all goes well, then summer [2016] construction is likely to happen.”

With the project’s estimated $84 million in place, Ell-Kanayuk said her department will put the various elements of the project out to tender.

The main component is the deep water port itself, planned for South Polaris — an area past Iqaluit’s causeway, close to the intake area where fuel is offloaded.

The port will include a single vessel docking face with an additional sealift barge landing, plus a laydown area for the sealift.

A second component of the project includes a small craft facility. Crews will excavate the area to create better boat access at low tide, install floating docks and improve parking for users.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna said earlier this week that he’s hoping the upcoming federal budget will deliver on previous federal commitments to fund a small craft harbour in Pond Inlet.

In the lead-up to the last federal election, former Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq pledged up to $30 million towards Pangnirtung’s harbour, a promise which Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo, now MP and federal fisheries minister, said his government would honour.