Nunavut MLA questions GN priorities on community airports

Simeon Mikkungwak, MLA for Baker Lake, questioned the government’s priorities on funding for airports in Nunavut’s hamlets in the legislative assembly, March 4, noting the large “scale and expense” of work now underway at Iqaluit’s airport. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

As the $400 million-plus Iqaluit airport improvement project forges ahead, Baker Lake MLA Simeon Mikkungwak says his constituents are wondering how far behind the government will leave the rest of the territory’s 24 airports and airstrips.

“The Iqaluit International Airport P3 project was initiated before many of us were elected to this house,” Mikkungwak said during question period in the Nunavut legislative assembly, March 4.

The Iqaluit airport project is a public-private partnership, or P3. A private consortium will build the new airport and run the facility for 30 years.

It will take up the largest single portion of government’s spending on capital projects next year.

“I continue to receive concerns from Nunavummiut in my constituency and region regarding the scale and expense of this project,” the MLA said. “Many are worried it might reduce the government’s ability to address the important airport needs of the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions.”

Mikkungwak noted earlier that his own community’s airport is equipped with an airstrip grader that dates back to 1981.

The department of Economic Development and Transportation capital estimates for the next fiscal year “include $2.5 million for small capital projects and minor capital for airport mobile equipment,” he said.

Mikkungwak asked Monica Ell, the ED&T minister, how the government prioritizes funding requests for airport equipment.

Ell acknowledged “many communities” in the territory “are faced with the challenges of replacing and repairing airport infrastructure and runways.”

“We have begun a complete review of the 24 community airports, especially related to public safety,” she said. Her department has also started drafting a 20-year plan to map out the work “required to meet those challenges,” she said.

“The communities aren’t an afterthought due to this project,” Ell said, pointing out that the government has separate funds devoted for projects in Nunavut’s hamlets.