Hunter Tootoo pushes for probe by integrity commissioner

Hunter Tootoo said he'll ask Nunavut's integrity commissioner to investigate a newly-unearthed batch of emails sent to and from former cabinet minister David Simailak between 2005 and 2007.

Tootoo, chair of the committee on government operations and accountability, will sign an affidavit asking David Jones, the acting integrity commissioner, to determine if Simailak violated Nunavut's Integrity Act.

"We want to clear the air on this and have an on-the-record response from the integrity commissioner to put an end to the whole thing," Tootoo said.

Emails tabled in the Nunavut legislature this past Monday suggest that Simailak, during times when he served either as minister of finance or minister of economic development and transportation, received updates on the activities of businesses in which he held an interest.

Simailak told MLAs last November that he placed his business interests in a blind trust after he was appointed to cabinet, as required by the integrity commissioner. A blind trust means the businesses are to be operated by a trustee without the knowledge of the minister.

But starting in February, 2005, Simailak received regular updates on negotiations over the sale of an office-apartment building in Baker Lake to Qamanittuaq Development Corp., a company Simailak had declared an interest in.

The emails came from Warwick Wilkinson, manager of Piruqsaijit Ltd., another company in which Simailak had a stake. Qamanittuaq eventually bought the building in July, 2005 for about $235,000.

Piruqsaijiit is a management firm that essentially runs a family of real estate firms, including Qamanittuaq.

On June 8, 2005, just two days after taking office as finance minister, Wilkinson congratulated Simailak on his new job, then gave him an update on the deal.

"I wish you success in this ex[c]iting portfolio. The attached is to update you on your transaction," Wilkinson writes.

After a month passed while lawyers sorted out legal details, Wilkinson informed Simailak the deal was ready to close.

"Funds should be in your hands next week," Wilkinson wrote in an email dated July 15, 2005. "In the event that rent cheques are not sent to QDC and if they are sent to you, kindly forward them to QDC…."

Last winter, emails revealed during a standing committee investigation into an accounting fiasco at the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation that Simailak was asked to approve a million-dollar loan to Qamanittuq.

He also failed to disclose an interest in Kangiqliniq Development Corp., which also received a million-dollar loan from NBCC.

Despite that, Nunavut's integrity commissioner, Robert Stanbury, found that Simailak committed only a technical violation of the Integrity Act, for which Simailak later apologized to the house.

Simailak resigned from cabinet Dec. 11, 2007, four days after the standing committee on government operations issued a subpoena for documents related to companies in which Simailak held an interest.

When asked to comment on the issue this past Tuesday, Simailak had little to say.

"All I'm going to say is that the integrity commissioner's been asked to do a review," he told reporters. "We'll let the process take its due course and see what he says."

Asked if he plans to run in territorial elections in October, Simailak said, "It's too early to tell."

The emails released this past week also reveal Simailak pushed Alex Campbell, then the deputy minister of economic development and transportation, to hire John Todd, a former transport and finance minister and MLA from the Kivalliq region in the old Northwest Territories government, "regarding the prospect of him doing some contract work for the department."

That email was sent in April 2007, when Simailak was also serving as ED&T minister.

In the same string of emails, Simailak writes to Todd about what appears to be a lost catering contract in Baker Lake. It isn't clear which company Simailak is talking about, but in the email he expresses frustration at losing business to a rival company.

"My boys are reincorporating DC Enterprises and I am going to have them go after everything… Again we are running out of time because of the petty politics. I am working my ass off and in the end I KNOW [sic] I am going to suffer because I and my boys are left with NOTHING," Simailak writes.

In the spring of 2006, Simailak was also kept informed about a dispute involving Qamanittuaq, Piruqsaijit and another Simailak-connected company, Ilagiktut Ltd., and the petroleum products division of Community and Government Services.

The three companies were seeking reimbursement from the Nunavut Housing Corp. for operation and maintenance expenses on leased buildings. At the same time, the PPD office was demanding more than $300,000 for unpaid fuel bills.

After a meeting that appeared to be arranged by Simailak's ex-executive assistant, Chris Lalande, the Nunavut Housing Corp. released $691,000 to the development corporations.

And in October, 2006, Simailak emailed Wilkinson asking for information about the status of a Piruqsaijit-managed office building in Repulse Bay that was shut down because of an insect infestation.