Federal budget gets mixed reaction from northern leaders
GN praises housing funding; ITK laments lack of tuberculosis funding
An emergency debate by MPs in Parliament Monday was sparked by a letter to the Speaker by Nunavut MP Lori Idlout. (File photo)
Tuesday’s federal budget is eliciting mixed reactions from northern leaders, with some praising Inuit-specific funding and others saying the budget doesn’t do enough to close Nunavut’s infrastructure gap.
“I guess I’m both surprised and not surprised,” Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said in an interview of her initial reaction to the budget.
She was happy to see $8 million designated to fund the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link between Manitoba and Nunavut, which would provide electricity infrastructure connecting the territory to that province. Idlout said the project will help get some Nunavut communities off of diesel.
However, she wants clarification on how the territory will access federal housing funding that was contained in the budget.
“From what I see in the budget, it’s not completely clear if the territorial governments will get housing dollars,” she said.
“There is mention of bilateral agreements, but that doesn’t seem to mean a lot when it comes to addressing the housing needs.”
The creation of the Tenant Protection Fund and the Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights, which are meant to protect renters from rising fees and so-called “renovictions,” likely won’t support many Nunavummiut, Idlout said.
She said lack of access to banks and credit cards in small communities means there is a huge reliance on public housing and social housing programs.
However, Idlout commended the extension of the Inuit Child First Initiative, which gives Inuit children access to health, educational and social supports, by at least one year.
Premier P.J. Akeeagok praised the budget’s inclusion of funding for green energy and multi-use infrastructure.
“We are eager to learn the details of how these programs will help align our vision for Nunavut with Canada’s commitment to securing Canada’s Arctic sovereignty and security,” he said.
Housing is a main focus of the federal budget, which includes money to build a minimum of two million new homes on top of the 1.87 million homes that were expected to be built anyway by 2031.
“The injection of billions of housing dollars into the new Canada Builds approach will provide Nunavut access to new affordable housing as outlined in our Igluliuqatigiingniq Nunavut 3000 strategy,” said Nunavut Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak in a statement, referring to the plan to build 3,000 new housing units across the territory by the end of the decade.
Other items in the budget include hiking capital gains taxes on companies and wealthy individuals, launching a National School Food Program and creating a Youth Mental Health Fund.
Other budget items include:
- $2.15 million for Nunafab Corp. to create a modular home production plant in Cambridge Bay;
- $167.5 million for the Inuit Child First Initiative;
- $630.2 million over two years to support mental health services in Canada; and
- $225 million over five years, with $45 million per year ongoing, for Indigenous language and culture programs funded through Heritage Canada.
A statement from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said the national Inuit group was “encouraged” by a number of Inuit-specific commitments in the budget.
It singled out $370 million for housing and infrastructure funding in Inuit Nunangat; $2.8 million over three years to co-develop legislation to facilitate the sale and trade of traditional country foods; and $10 million over three years to support Inuit self-determination research.
However, ITK denounced the budget for not including $75 billion over 35 years for infrastructure that the organization requested in its pre-budget submission.
“ITK is disappointed by the notable absence of funding to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030, a shared commitment of Inuit and the Government of Canada since 2017,” a message on ITK’s website said.
It added that the group had called for $131.6 million over seven years to eliminate TB.
“There remains a wide gulf between what Canada announced today and what Nunavut Inuit require for lives equitable to what most Canadians enjoy,” said Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Aluki Kotierk in a statement Tuesday, adding there is no mention of Inuit post-secondary education funding in the budget either.
Sylvie Bérubé, MP for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, along with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, denounced the budget as one only of “electoral promises.”
In a statement written in French, Bérubé and Blanchet said the budget does not meet expectations of the Bloc Québécois on the support of seniors and housing, among other issues, and that the Bloc would vote against it.
So to be clear, we have a small part of the mental health budget, and some roughly 250 million over five years, to be spent on culture. Oh, and a third of the Inuit Child First budget.
In 2021, at the height of Covid, Toronto got 12.5 BILLION dollars in a single year for its subway, which no one was using.
Remember that.
That’s terrible! Or it would be if it were true. Let’s see some evidence for this impossible-to-believe claim.
Uh.
It’s super easy to prove. May 2021.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6021839
Interesting idea of “proof”. The story shows that the money will be spent over at least 10 years. And it’s for four subways. You’re right about one thing, though, no one was using them … because they haven’t been built yet.
“ITK denounced the budget for not including $75 billion over 35 years for infrastructure that the organization requested in its pre-budget submission.”
How delusional… If you want that kind of money you might have to do what other jurisdictions have, develop a viable ECONOMY.
think it over…
$75,000,000,000? Lol
Maybe when the NU. Population hits 6.6 million people and needs rapid transit you’ll get more. Give your head a shake.
“Tuesday’s federal budget is eliciting mixed reactions from northern leaders …”
I’ve lived and worked in Nunavut for over ten years; have yet to meet a northern leader (other than at Northmart and a few small private businesses. Have met plenty of politicians, though, and plenty of people appointed to expensive positions – but no leaders among them.
The ways of the north
True. When Nunavut grows up and gets off the teet, then maybe the rest of the world will respect their business. Duh-duhevolution…. look up what it actually means. Take responsibility.
No number of straphangers’ commutes are more important than clean water in the territory.
Who will look after the electricity connecting the territory. QEC?