On eve of campaign, Tories bomb Nunavut with spending pledges

Conservative announce-o-matic machine winds up just prior to Commons dissolution

By THOMAS ROHNER

The biggest pot of pre-election money hand-outs went to the Iqaluit port and small craft harbour project: here the GN's economic development and transportation minister, Monica Ell, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Iqaluit deputy mayor Simon Nattaq take questions from reporters at a news conference in Iqaluit July 30 announcing $84.9 million in possible future spending for an Iqaluit port and small craft harbour. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)


The biggest pot of pre-election money hand-outs went to the Iqaluit port and small craft harbour project: here the GN’s economic development and transportation minister, Monica Ell, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Iqaluit deputy mayor Simon Nattaq take questions from reporters at a news conference in Iqaluit July 30 announcing $84.9 million in possible future spending for an Iqaluit port and small craft harbour. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

Technically, it’s illegal for federal politicians to buy your vote in Canada.

But the Conservative government loosened its purse strings just days before Aug. 2, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a federal election for Oct. 19.

In a flurry of news releases issued by Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq between July 17 and July 31 — while she was still a federal cabinet minister — the federal government, in some cases with other partners, announced money for a long list of projects and causes.

These announcements also included a $7.5 million loan from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal fund to help finance the City of Iqaluit’s aquatic centre construction project.

The Green Municipal Fund, a federal endowment administered through the FCM, will also issue a grant worth $750,000, for total funding of $8.25 million.

The City of Iqaluit didn’t circulate the July 31 news release until Aug. 4. It was issued jointly by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the City of Iqaluit, and Aglukkaq, who stood in for Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford.

The funding is “critically important in helping the City of Iqaluit move forward with building a multi-use aquatic centre to meet the needs of residents,” Iqaluit Mayor Mary Wilman said in the release.

At a July 14 city council meeting, Iqaluit’s recreation director, Amy Elgersma, said construction of the centre should ramp up this fall — the walls and roof are planned to be erected before the end of 2015.

Mayor Wilman told Nunatsiaq News Aug. 5 that the FCM loan-grant combination is in place regardless of whether the Conservatives win the Oct. 19 election.

In another July 31 release, Aglukkaq also announced $260,000 in spending over two years from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency on Nunavut’s sealing industry.

Additional money from the Government of Nunavut and from universities brings the total to $445,000, which will be used for “training, marketing and research in Nunavut’s seal and long fur industry,” the release says.

This announcement came on the heels of the European Union rubber-stamping a deal, first struck in 2014, that allows Nunavut harvesters to sell skins and other seal products in Europe, despite the EU ban on seal products.

Yet another announcement issued jointly by Aglukkaq and the GN’s economic development minister, Monica Ell, on July 31, announced new money for arts and culture.

The federal government will spend $95,000 on a feature film workshop, while the GN will contribute about $19,000 to the same cause, the release says.

Additional money from the Nunavut Film Development Corp. and North Creative Films Inc., brings total spending on the workshop to $231,000.

Another $215,000 two-year spending pledge from the federal government will go towards developing artists’ business skills, the release said

For that, the GN will put in $300,000.

Calls to Aglukkaq’s office to find out whether the arts and culture funds, as well as the seal industry funds, are dependent on the outcome of the upcoming election were not returned by press-time.

Other last-minute pre-election announcements from the federal government include:

• $4.4 million, announced July 23, to pay for upgrades to the Polar Continental Shelf Program’s building in Resolute Bay that will produce energy efficiency improvements and better communications services. It’s part of $380 million in spending across Canada this year for upgrades to research facilities;

• $3.1 million, announced July 23, in skills training and literacy funding for the three territories. Under it , the Nunavut Literacy Council has developed a partnership with the Northwest Territories Literacy Council and the Yukon Literacy Coalition to create an entitity called the Northern Alliance for Literacy and Essential Skills. It’s aimed at combining skills and literacy training with workplace training;

• $845,104 over four years for research into humane trapping systems for furbearing animals;

• $750,000, announced July 17, to help pay for Nunavut Arctic College’s early childhood education program, which trains daycare workers;

• a non-monetary announcement July 31, from Bernard Valcourt, the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development minister, naming Richard Boudreault, an entrepreneur and engineer, as chair of the board of Polar Knowledge Canada, the body that will oversee the Canadian High Arctic Research Station now under construction in Cambridge Bay. Dr. David J. Scott, a veteran official with the Geological Survey of Canada, will serve as CEO and president of Polar Knowledge Canada, responsible for day-to-day management. Polar Knowledge Canada is the new name of the Canadian Polar Commission.

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