Don’t overlook Nunavut, mayors plead

DENISE RIDEOUT

OTTAWA — Nunavut’s mayors fear the federal government’s new pot of money for infrastructure projects will leave the territory behind just as its other programs have done in the past.

During the Nunavut Association of Municipalities meeting in Ottawa earlier this month, mayors said the territory never gets its fair share of federal money.

The federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Program, introduced in 2000, did little to help Nunavut, which needs new roads, dumps, water lines and sewage lagoons, mayors argued.

The Canada Infrastructure Program divvied up $1.97 billion between the country’s provinces and territories on a per-capita basis, or size of their populations. Because of Nunavut’s small population, the territory’s share was small — about $2.1 million.

Mayors complained that money won’t go far, considering it would cost about $1.5 million to build a sewage treatment plant in Cambridge Bay, or $7 million to install an incinerator at Iqaluit’s dump.

“The first infrastructure program, because it was per-capita based, missed us completely,” said David General, CEO of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.

Now, the federal government is getting ready to introduce a new program, the Strategic Infrastructure Fund, which it announced in the December 2001 budget speech.

But the Nunavut Association of Municipalities fears the territory will be left behind again.

The new program, with its $2-billion budget, will put money into large-scale projects that are likely to spur economic growth in the provinces and territories.

Jacques Parent, who handles infrastructure programs with the federal government’s Treasury Board, told the mayors that projects such as local transportation systems, tourism, improvements to water and sewage systems and other large projects could be eligible for federal funds.

But it’s the large-scale requirement that worries Nunavut’s mayors. They’ve heard rumblings that only projects that cost $50 million or more will qualify for funding. The problem, the mayors told Parent, is that the territory has a lot of small projects on its wish list, but few that cost $50 million each. They were critical of the program, saying it’s geared toward projects in urban centres and big cities, not small communities.

General asked that the federal government reconsider how it will allot the project money, suggesting that several small projects that add up to the $50-million amount should qualify for funding.

Parent was quick to tell the mayors they were jumping the gun. He said the federal government hasn’t set any such $50-million scale. In fact, he said, no criteria for the program have been set yet.

Iqaluit’s mayor, John Matthews, then requested the federal government consult Nunavut’s leaders about what types of projects can quality for federal infrastructure money. “Our concern is that we won’t have any input, that we’ll be left out altogether,” Matthews said.

Parent assured the mayors that federal government officials will meet with territorial and provincial leaders in the coming months to discuss their infrastructure needs and potential projects.

At the end of the meeting, the Nunavut Association of Municipalities passed a resolution to lobby the federal government to set up the program in such a way that it doesn’t overlook smaller, but still essential, infrastructure projects.