Aglukkaq may face removal from cabinet

When Nunavut MLAs meet next June to hold their mid-term review of cabinet ministers, Leona Aglukkaq, the health minister, may find herself at the top of their hit-list.

After all the plotting and counter-plotting had ended, MLAs voted Dec. 1 to hold the review, during which regular members get a chance to grill each cabinet minister, before June 30 next year instead of next fall. That occurred only after Hunter Tootoo, the MLA for Iqaluit Centre, thwarted an attempt by Tagak Curley, the MLA for Rankin Inlet North, to hold it even sooner, before March 31.

Tootoo, whose amendment to Curley’s motion won the support of all cabinet ministers, along with Levi Barnabas, the member for Quttiktuq, said a cabinet review in March would interfere with the budget session next spring.

On Nov. 28, Tootoo, in an attempt to flush out MLAs who want to boot Aglukkaq from cabinet but don’t want to say so in public, made a notice of motion to have her removed – but no one seconded it.

MLAs had discussed the rescheduling of the mid-term review, and their problems with the cabinet, at a closed-door meeting on Nov. 25. They’re said to be displeased with the sudden departure of Bernie Blais as deputy minister of health and social services.