Okalik continues anti-Aariak grudge match in Nunavut legislature

Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik said he refused to give Iqaluit East MLA Eva Aariak permission to continue a member’s statement to “protest” the territorial government’s unwillingness to pay compensation to Baffin Bay polar bear hunters. (FILE PHOTO)

Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo said Okalik’s denial of Aariak’s request to continue speaking was “very uncourteous,” and the first time he has seen an MLA do such a thing. (FILE PHOTO)

Premier Eva Aariak couldn’t finish a member’s statement she attempted to give March 11 as a message to her constituents in Iqaluit East, because Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik refused to give her unanimous consent. (FILE PHOTO)

The sniping between former premier Paul Okalik and current premier Eva Aariak persisted this past week in the Nunavut legislature as Okalik continued to pound Aariak at every opportunity.

Okalik challenged Aariak’s judgment, actions and decisions repeatedly on March 9, 10, 11 and 12.

On March 11, he prevented Aariak from finishing a member’s statement aimed at her constituents in Iqaluit East.

When Aariak made a customary request for unanimous consent to finish her statement, Okalik said “nay,” denying her the required unanimity.

This is likely the first time in the history of the Nunavut legislature than one member has denied another member permission to finish a member’s statement. By convention, such permission is granted automatically.

Soon after, Okalik rose on a point of order to complain that Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo enaged in what Okalik said was unparliamentary behaviour.

“I happened to see my colleague, Mr. Tootoo, gesturing by sucking his thumb and pointing at me,” Okalik said.

Tootoo responded by saying that Okalik’s “nay” was “very uncourteous.”

“I have never, to my recollection, seen a member’s statement be nay’d, whether I agree with it or not,” Tootoo said.

However, Tootoo did say if Okalik took offense to the thumb-sucking gesture, then “I’m sorry.”

Okalik later said he prevented Aariak from speaking to “protest” the lack of compensation for Baffin Bay polar bear hunters.

A couple of days earlier, Okalik accused Aariak of leaving Nunavut in the lurch when she attended the Vancouver Olympics.

He said on March 9 that she should have delegated her the premier’s authority to another minister during her trip to Vancouver.

Okalik said “according our system, you leave your authority at the border of Nunavut.”

Okalik said he wanted to know who was in charge when she was gone.

“According to our system, you leave your authority to make legal decisions for the territory at the border. We had a system of designating various portfolios to other ministers if we were leaving the territory. So my question is: who was in charge?”

Aariak told Okalik that she has never heard about that practice “nor have I heard of it occurring elsewhere that I have to leave my authority at the Nunavut border.”

Aariak said she would have this matter researched and reviewed as to whether this is the case.

“I will do so diligently. I thank my colleague for raising that issue,” Aariak said.

“I was in charge. Even though I was in Vancouver, I was in charge. We conducted our cabinet meetings over in Vancouver,” Aariak said. “I conducted my every day activities as a premier even though I was in Vancouver.”

Okalik also pushed Aariak to explain why there has been no new appointment to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

“Perhaps they’re looking for some individual from outside of Nunavut and that’s why they’re having a hard time trying to find an individual to chair the NWMB,” Okalik said during question period.

Aariak reminded Okalik that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to make appointments.

But Okalik insisted that according to the land claims agreement, it is not “entirely up to the federal government.”

“They have to appoint an individual to the entity. That’s in the agreement. It’s not totally up to the federal government. We have to appoint. They cannot just grab any individual to appoint,” Okalik said, riling Aariak.

“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. I didn’t say that it’s up to the federal government. It’s up to the federal government as to when they will make the appointment. I can only urge them to appoint someone as soon as possible, but we can’t tell them when to appoint anyone,” Aariak said.

On March 10, Okalik raised the issue of possible compensation for Baffin Bay hunters affected by a recent reduction in their quota and by a federal government export ban on polar bear trophies from that area.

When he asked Aariak if she had raised this issue with Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, Aariak said she would speak to Aglukkaq.

But then Okalik also said he had written to Jim Prentice, the federal minister of the environment, expressing “our disappointment in the decision of the federal government,” and wanted to know if Aariak had also written.

“Our MP is very much well aware of the situation. I will speak to her again and we’ll go from there. Thank you,” Aariak said.

Okalik continued to take Aariak to task March 11 over a report that the Government of Nunavut is now using the company Samdan Consulting Inc. to represent the GN with the federal government on the devolution file.

The founder of this company is a former Liberal cabinet minister, Robert Nault. Information on the federal government’s lobbyist registry shows Samdan started work for Nunavut on Dec. 23, 2009.

“Why did the government hire a Liberal consultant to lobby on our behalf with a Conservative government in power,” Okalik asked.

Aariak told him that the GN hadn’t reached the lobbying stage yet, and reminded him that “We are not allowed to say, “Because you work for a political party, we are not able to see you.”

Okalik picked up again on the use of Nault as a lobbyist on March 12, badgering Aariak about the cost of his services as a consultant.

“How much did it cost? That is my question. That’s my second question. I am repeating my question. It seems like I’m asking my questions to thin air, because I never got an answer to my question,” Okalik said.

Aariak later said Nault’s firm worked only for a couple of days, on the devolution file.

However, Okalik finally did learn why the GN spent $20,000 on tea leaf balls, an expense he had asked about the previous week.

Aariak told him tin tea leaf balls were sent to all Nunavut communities to commemorate Nunavut’s 10th anniversary.

“The anniversaries have different gift ideas,” Aariak said. “The tenth anniversary symbol is tin. The tea leaf balls were given out to the people, and there was a note in there of how Inuit tea was made, and these are vegetation that grows in Nunavut. It connects to our culture, and they provided to the people.”