Our predictions for 1997

The year 1996 was a good one for Nunavut, perhaps one of the best we’ve seen for a long, long while.

Yes, we know. Some of you are making less money than you did when the year began, and a few of you are even looking for new jobs.

But the confusion and chaos we’re now seeing won’t last forever ­ because in 1996, many of us began to search for better ways of living our lives and running our communities.

For some of that, we can thank the Government of the Northwest Territories. Despite their frequent incompetence and duplicity, the politicians and bureaucrats who run the GNWT have begun, nevertheless, to give us the tools we need to become more self-sufficient and mature.

Because of a deficit run up by previous governments, and because of new federal financial policies, the people who run the GNWT really had no choice.

But all the same, the territorial government is withdrawing from our lives. And that, in time, will give us the room we need to become more independent.

They’ve told us, for example, that in the future it’s us ­ and not an army of imported bureaucrats, caretakers and hand-out givers ­ who will be responsible for maintaining our health and well-being. The name for that policy is “community wellness.”

They’ve told us they want our elected municipal councils to own the responsibility for running our communities. And they’ve told us not to expect the government to give us a living ­ from now on, most of us will have to pay our own way through life.

Besides all that, 1996 was a good year for our new territory. Last March, Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin confirmed that his Liberal government will support the creation of Nunavut ­ financially, and morally. For our new territory, there is now no turning back.

Will 1997 be as good a year? We hope so.

Here’s a few of our predictions for the coming year:

* Ron Irwin will appoint either Jack Anawak or Joe Kunuk as interim commissioner of Nunavut.

* Finance Minister John Todd’s territorial budget later this month will provide for more layoffs and departmental amalgamations ­ but most MLAs will support it in principle and Todd will get his way.

* In his March budget speech, Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin will announce new measures to combat child poverty in Canada. But he won’t announce any changes to the GST.

* Canadians won’t forget that the Liberals lied to them about the GST. As a result, Jean Charest’s Progressive Conservative party will enjoy a resurgence in Quebec, Ontario and the West, and will form the official opposition after a fall election that will see the Liberals re-elected with a reduced majority.

* More Nunavut residents will sober up.

* At least one territorial cabinet minister will be dumped from his or her job.

* Kevin O’Brien’s Keewatin resupply committee will recommend against the GNWT’s $16 million Rankin Inlet tank farm proposal. But the project won’t be dropped until after a protracted fight.

* Ron Irwin will provide a formal response on behalf of the government of Canada to the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples ­ but it won’t be enough to satisfy the Assembly of First Nations and other national aboriginal organizations.

* Now that they have all-star defenceman Paul Coffey, the Philadelphia Flyers will win the Stanley Cup.

* The New York Yankees will again win the World Series. And this time around, pitcher Dwight Gooden and outfielder Darryl Strawberry will rebuild their shattered lives and play themselves into the history books.

(Editor’s note: We did not fare well in last year’s sports predictions. A year ago, we said the Detroit Red Wings would win the Stanley Cup and that the Baltimore Orioles would win the World Series.)

* Peter Ernerk, Bryan Pearson and Frank Pearce will each write at least one letter to the editor of Nunatsiaq News.

* Jim Bell will write at least one nice editorial about the Makivik Corporation. JB