A snoozer of a week

Floundering MLAs fight to stay awake

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

JOHN THOMPSON

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq put on a brave face as she sat at the witness table in the legislative assembly last Wednesday, preparing to be grilled by MLAs.

She looked sharp, as always, in a black pantsuit with a lime green dress shirt and heels. But her hands trembled, betraying her nervousness.

Many observers had wondered if heads would roll during last week’s mid-term leadership review.

And if members of the legislative assembly did plan to oust a cabinet minister, Aglukkaq was touted as a prime target.

But in the end, she didn’t have much to worry about.

The health department has always been a lighting rod for criticism, and thunderclouds have loomed over Aglukkaq since she took over the portfolio last summer.

During the last session of the legislature, MLAs pummeled her with questions, and ridiculed her defence of ongoing problems in the health department as mere “hiccups.”

A couple of the “hiccups”: last fall the Baffin Regional Hospital lost its accreditation. Then some agency nurses hired from abroad flunked their registered nursing exams.

And three senior staff resigned under Aglukkaq’s lead, including her deputy minister, Bernie Blais, who left in January.

During her opening remarks, Aglukkaq acknowledged her demanding leadership style, which Hunter Tootoo, MLA for Iqaluit Centre, would later compare to his 14-year-old daughter’s habit of telling her father to “talk to the hand.”

“That role has not always been understood by deputy ministers, by some members of the legislative assembly, or by staff that sometimes felt they were being buried with questions,” she said.

But Aglukkaq also said she stood behind every decision she made.

“If you question me, my job is always to question the people I work with,” she said.

Aglukkaq said she fell out with Blais over a proposal he made to centralize medical travel operations in Winnipeg.

“I didn’t agree with that at all, and advised officials it was a political decision,” she said. “Our government is dedicated to keeping jobs in the North. Knowing that, I advised staff that wasn’t an option.”

MLAs fired back that they were tired of seeing little progress on fixing longstanding problems with medical travel.

“It’s one step forward, and two steps backward,” said Tootoo.

Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas said cancer patients, the elderly and the handicapped travel from his community without an escort. In some cases, he said, unilingual Inuit are stuck at the airport with no one to translate for them. He asked Aglukkaq what her department is doing to fix this.

Aglukkaq said a new escort policy is nearly finished. She said her staff is revising the draft policy because it was “too narrow in scope.”

Other MLAs joined in to air their complaints.

Arviat MLA David Alagalak griped about how social workers aren’t approachable in his community.

Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk complained that the medical flight from Sanikiluaq to Winnipeg only has a portable toilet that doesn’t flush. And Barnabas noted Large Baffin patients in Ottawa need an elevator.

As Aglukkaq responded with promises to keep investigating these concerns, she did have a few supporters watching. Kathy Hanson, president of the Qulliq Status of Women Council, clapped for Aglukkaq when her review ground to an end.

But Aglukkaq and other cabinet ministers got a great assist from some MLAs, who didn’t seem to understand the point of the whole exercise.

At the review’s onset, Pangnirtung MLA Peter Kilabuk, who chaired the meeting, urged members not to dwell on personality conflicts and constituency complaints.

No such luck.

Few questions addressed the performance of ministers, and most were of a type that might have been better asked during regular session hours, or through a phone call, e-mail or after-hours discussion.

When Ed Picco, the energy and education minister, took the hot seat, looking nervous and jittery, he needn’t have worried.

Kattuk asked if Picco ever considered alternatives to burning diesel for generating electricity in the territory. Then Kugluktuk MLA Joe Allen Evyagotailak asked for an update on the Nunavut Power Corporation’s research into the subject.

Both would have known about the power corporation’s much-publicized plans to build a hydro-electric dam near Iqaluit if they listened to the radio or picked up a newspaper.

And what a tired looking crowd.

MLAs yawned, cradled their heads in their hands, or rubbed their eyes throughout the first day of the leadership review. One used binders beneath his desk as a footstool as he slumped into his seat.

Tootoo summed up the mood during the end of the day Wednesday, when he grabbed a sealskin cushion, tucked it under one shoulder and pretended to sleep, prompting laughter from Kilabuk.

MLAs regularly sauntered in and out of the chambers throughout the whole affair. One moment all seats would be filled; 10 minutes later, half the chairs would be empty.

Each member had 20 questions. By the end, Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley and Tootoo had used up most of their bullets.

So why did the review end up being such a mess?

Before the last leadership review in November 2001, members planned months in advance to coordinate their criticism, and hired a consultant to coach them on how to ask questions.

Not this time. Without a plan, the leadership review became a warm-up exercise for the new sitting that started on Friday.

Curley blamed flight delays for the members’ disorganization. No planning occurred before they arrived in Iqaluit, he said.

He said other MLAs prefer to speak in person, rather than over the phone. Plus there appears to be little appetite among fellow members to dump a minister.

“No one’s in the mood to cut anyone,” Curley said during a break.

Tootoo dismissed the whole exercise, pointing out that cabinet ministers can only be removed with a non-confidence motion during regular sessions, rather than at the leadership review.

During the final days of the last session, Tootoo put forward a non-confidence motion for Aglukkaq, which could have removed her from cabinet had it received support from other MLAs.

But no one seconded Tootoo’s motion and it died.

So, will Tootoo call for Aglukkaq’s resignation this session?
“There’s only one person I asked questions to. That should tell you something,” he said.

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