Do GN freeloaders misuse public assets?

I am a co-owner of M.J. Taxi in Cape Dorset and I am writing to you today because I am fed up about public assets being abused all across Nunavut by municipal and territorial government employees.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funding is being wasted so that government employees do not have to pay for their own local personal transportation, even though policies have been approved by our elected officals prohibiting personal use of government assets.

The public funding being wasted every year could be going towards providing better programs and services that benefit all Nunavummiut.

M.J. Taxi has been trying to get local, municipal, and territorial directors to enforce the motor vehicle transportation policies our elected officals have approved, but without success, because they are some of the biggest abusers and have something to lose. Free vehicles, free gas and free maintenance.

Everyday we see municipal and territorial government vehicles being used for personal use. On Dec. 12, 2009, our taxi company lost hundreds of dollars worth of revenue because of this.

We even saw Nunavut Housing Corp., health centre, and municipal employees using public assets to make money at the rummage sale by transporting their goods for sale with public assets.

As a resident of Nunavut I am requesting the Canada Revenue Agency and the Auditor General to investigate payroll records at the Government of Nunavut and all Nunavut municipalities to determine whether employers are keeping adequate records and whether government employees are paying income tax on this benefit that is supposed to be prohibited though territorial policies.

Jamesie Alariaq
Co-owner M.J. Taxi
Cape Dorset

Email your letters to editor@nunatsiaq.com.

Nunatsiaq News welcomes letters to the editor. But we are under no obligation to publish any given letter at any given time.

In our print edition, we usually print letters on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. In our online edition, we usually print letters as soon as we are able to prepare them for publication.

All letters are edited for length, grammar, punctuation, spelling, taste and libel. You may withhold your name by request, but we must know who you are before we publish your letter.