No regular MLAs want to serve on Nunavut cabinet

The size of the Nunavut cabinet will remain at seven members, the chair of the regular members’ caucus said March 2. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

The size of the Nunavut cabinet will remain at seven members because no regular MLA wants to serve on it, the chair of the regular members’ caucus said March 2 in a statement.

Amittuq MLA Louis Tapardjuk, the chair of the regular member’s caucus, said in the statement that “no member will seek election to the Executive Council of Nunavut.”

“Regular members recognize that the current Legislative Assembly will be dissolved no later than the fall of next year. Given this time-frame, we felt that our collective efforts during the remainder of this assembly would be best focused on holding the cabinet to account for its progress in achieving its Tamapta objectives,” Tapardjuk said.

The Nunavut cabinet normally comprises eight members.

This past November, the eighth spot was vacated when Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley quit, saying he didn’t want to serve anymore as minister of health and social services.

Curley also said he opposes a plan to split the Department of Health and Social Services into two distinct departments.

A source told Nunatsiaq News that if a vote to choose a new cabinet minister were to have been held, it would likely have been scheduled for March 6.

The next territorial election must be held before the fall of 2013.