NAM happy with new federal plan

Nunavut Association of Municipalities members say a new federal plan will stop a decline in funding to Nunavut’s municipal infrastructure. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavut’s municipal leaders say a new federal plan will help protect investments in the territory’s public infrastructure.

Members of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, who met in Iqaluit Dec. 6, said the federal government’s new long-term infrastructure plan will stop the decline in funding to Nunavut’s municipal infrastructure.

In the new plan, announced in Ottawa last week, Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Denis Lebel lays out a timetable to take stock of recent investments in communities across the territory.

The plan promises to then identify where money still needs to be spent and how to replace soon-to-expire programs.

“On behalf of Nunavut municipalities, I applaud Minister Lebel’s launch of the planning process to develop a new long-term infrastructure plan, in partnership with provinces, territories and municipalities,” said Percy Kabloona, the Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ acting president, in a Dec. 7 press release. “I look forward to working closely with Nunavut Minister of Community and Government Services, Lorne Kusugak, to ensure this new plan responds to the needs and priorities of northern communities.”

The news release, put out by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, explains that the federal Gas Tax Fund program invests $15 million annually in Nunavut municipal infrastructure.

The territory receives another $25 million annually through the federal Building Canada Program for public infrastructure.

But 40 per cent of federal-municipal infrastructure is set to expire by 2014, the release says.

Nunavut mayors and municipal administrators wrapped up their special general meeting in Iqaluit Dec. 7, calling it “productive.”

Participants at the NAM meeting said their discussions helped turn over a new leaf for the troubled organization. They replaced its recently-departed president and launched a job search for a new executive director.

During the special meeting, mayors and senior administrative officers from 18 member municipalities appointed Whale Cove Mayor Percy Kabloona as its acting president, to fill the position recently vacated by Pangnitung mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik.

Sowdlooapik resigned from the role of president as of Dec. 3.

Mayors also moved to remove the position of NAM’s executive director, Shani Guerin, and launch a job search to hire her replacement.

In the absence of NAM administrators, staff from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities helped to facilitate the Iqaluit meeting, as the organization’s board of directors works to review its administration and update its by-laws.

The FCM will continue to work with NAM in preparation for its annual general meeting, to be held in May 2012.