Government of Nunavut set to release 2015-16 capital budget

Eight members of the Nunavut cabinet pose Oct. 17 for a photo with students at Inugalak School in Whale Cove following a cabinet retreat they held in that community from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. Missing from photo: Paul Okalik, minister of justice, and minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corp. (GN HANDOUT PHOTO)

The Government of Nunavut will show where its capital spending priorities lie for 2015-2016 when the legislative assembly’s fall sitting gets underway Oct. 21.

Next year’s capital budget estimates will dominate the fall session, which runs until Nov. 6.

The capital portion of the Nunavut government’s annual budget — which covers new buildings, infrastructure and equipment — is usually passed in the fall. That’s to give contractors enough time to bid on tenders and requests for proposals prior to the following year’s sealift marshalling deadlines.

The main portion of the budget, called the “main estimates” is usually introduced in February or March each year, just prior to the end of the fiscal year.

Finance minister Keith Peterson is expected to table the capital budget on day one of the sitting, starting at 1:30 p.m., John Quirke, clerk of the Legislative Assembly, said Oct. 20.

That document will list the government’s capital spending priorities for 2015-2016, by community and project, covering everything from schools and housing, to health centres and waste facilities.

MLAs will then begin a line-by-line review of the document, by department, in committee-of the-whole sessions in the days that follow, starting Wednesday Oct. 22.

“The departments’ appearance will be based on the size of their budgets,” said Quirke.

That means the Department of Economic Development and Transportation is at the top of the list.

“The majority of our time will be spent in looking through all the departments’ capital needs, where they want to spend their money — and whether we agree with them or not,” said Joe Enook, MLA for Tununiq.

The fall sitting will also continue where the spring sessions left off.

MLAs expect the first day’s work will include review and introduction of bills. Only one bill is up for adoption in advance of the fall sitting — the Northern Employee Benefits and Services Pension Plan Act, known as Bill 1, which passed second reading March 20.

The Nunavut Employees Union opposes the bill.

Union president Bill Fennell said employee pensions are not guaranteed under the new law, and has promised that the union would fight it.

Premier Peter Taptuna and Nunavut’s cabinet stated in an Oct. 20 news release that the government’s priority, one year into the government’s mandate, is “to focus on education and training,” and “the addition of the current devolution negotiations.”

The premier and cabinet met in Whale Cove Oct. 14 to Oct. 16 “to review action plans under this government’s current mandate, Sivumut Abluqta,” the release stated.

Nunavut commissioner Edna Elias described Sivumut Abluqta in the commissioner’s address in March.

All MLAs are expected to attend the opening day of the fall session, which is a continuation of the second sitting of the fourth Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.

One member, however, faces possible disciplinary action for an impaired driving conviction in the summer.

David Joanasie, MLA for South Baffin, is on court-ordered probation until July 24, 2015, for an impaired driving conviction stemming from an incident in Charlottetown, P.E.I. this past July.

When Joanasie pleaded guilty to the charge in Charlottetown court, the judge ordered him to pay $1,700 in fines and suspended his driver’s license for 12 months.

Joanasie is serving the terms of his probation in Nunavut.

The 31-year-old MLA told Nunatsiaq News he expects fellow members to table a disciplinary motion Oct. 21.

“My colleagues have the authority to suspend, or reprimand,” he said. “There’s a few different options they can choose from. Of all the possibilities, I am expecting the worst.

“It’s in their hands, so to speak.”

Joanasie is the second MLA to have faced criminal charges since the fourth assembly convened in November 2013.

The first was Samuel Nuqingaq, MLA for Uqqummiut, who has served suspensions from the assembly for unacceptable conduct.

MLAs first barred Nuqingaq from the entire winter sitting of the assembly. Premier Peter Taptuna said it related to the Nuqingaq’s absences from meetings and regular proceedings of the assembly.

MLAs later suspended him for an additional two months in spring and summer, for unspecified reasons.

Nuqingaq voluntarily attended a 60-day counselling program for alcohol abuse during that period, he recently confirmed to Nunatsiaq News.

The member returned to work at his constituency office shortly after his suspension expired.

Even though the suspensions are behind him, Nuqingaq still faces criminal charges of assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling-house, stemming from a Feb. 24 incident in Qikiqtarjuaq. He is to appear in court in Qikiqtarjuaq to answer to the charges on Oct. 29, halfway through the fall session of the assembly.

Nuqingaq told Nunatsiaq News that he could not yet say whether he would be absent from the assembly on the 29th to make his court date.

“We’ll know before the 29th,” he said from his constituency office in Qikiqtarjuaq, Oct. 16. “I can’t say anything yet on it.”

The legislative assembly will host a few special events in connection with the fall sitting.

Veteran Nunavut statesman and former president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami,) John Amagoalik, will receive the Order of Nunavut, Oct. 28, for his contribution to the founding of the territory.

The legislative assembly will also host the 2014 Speaker’s Youth Parliament on Nov. 27, three weeks after the regular fall session closes.

“Youth Parliament is a unique and exciting opportunity for students from across our territory to assume the role of members of the legislative assembly,” George Qulaut, speaker of the legislative assembly, said in a news release.

The legislative assembly has invited Nunavut high school students to apply for the session, which takes place all afternoon, Nov. 27.