Cabinet slow to ponder finance “recentralization”

The Government of Nunavut’s cabinet hasn’t decided whether it will follow the advice of Canada’s auditor general to “recentralize” its finance department.

“At this time we’re not sure if we’ll do that. We’re still considering,” said finance minister David Simailak, during the leadership review held last week.

He couldn’t say how long it would take to make that decision.

“It’s something we’ll have to some day consider. I can’t say when, but I can say it’s under consideration,” he said.

However, he did say the finance department continues to experience problems because of its decentralized staff, which are sprawled across several communities.

“The bandwidth is too small, and we have to wait many hours to get financial papers from one community to the other,” he said. “It’s too cumbersome, at this point.”

The legislature will adjourn today. The next sitting begins on November 21.