Federal budget targets national security

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

The need for a unified national security program overshadowed the country’s hopes for increased funding for health and education as Finance Minister Paul Martin handed down the federal budget on Monday.

In response to the events of Sept. 11, the government set aside $7.7 billion over five years to tighten borders, boost defence and increase police presence at major airports.

“We knew the bulk of the money would be earmarked for all the new security we require,” said Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Liberal MP for Nunavut. “I wasn’t expecting that much, but I might be disappointed that there was no real mention of the North.”

The biggest hit for northern residents will be a $24 user fee on all airline tickets to cover the cost of increased airport and airline security measures, estimated at $2.2 billion over the next five years.

The extra fee will affect government, business, medical services as well as personal travel. And almost all northern residents will feel the pinch.

Martin reasoned that air travellers should pay for the security charge because they are “the primary users of the enhanced security measures.” But, said Karetak-Lindell, there is little security between many small Nunavut communities and as a result, residents “will have to pay $24 to make sure someone in Toronto is secure.”

The finance minister repeated a promise made in September to provide $23 billion in health-care funding to increase the number of doctors and nurses in Canada.

He also reiterated his commitment to increase the budget for affordable housing by $680 million over five years. Manitok Thompson, the minister responsible for Nunavut Housing Corporation, announced the housing funds last week in the Nunavut legislature.

Not only did the budget not contain any new funding in these areas — and no money for the Canada Health and Social Transfer — the money already promised will be distributed on a per capita basis.

“We end up losing when that happens,” said Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Liberal MP for the Northwest Territories and Secretary of State for children an youth. “We don’t know how much money the North will get.”

Kelvin Ng, Nunavut’s minister of finance, said it’s time the system changed — and held out hope that change will come. “At the last premiers’ meeting,” he said, “the premiers came on side. That’s a huge step in itself.”

He said the North is making small gains, pointing to a recent Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation decision to break with the per capita system. “I think we’re making progress,” Ng said.

Inuit left out of aboriginal initiative

Yesterday’s announcement followed through on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s commitment to issues concerning aboriginal people.

The budget dedicated $185 million over the next two years to provide better education for aboriginal children living on reserves and to help curb fetal alcohol syndrome. However, there was no guarantee in the finance minister’s speech that any of the funding would go toward Inuit initiatives.

Jose Kusugak, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, called on the federal government to include Inuit in the funding. “Inuit children also need the kind of early childhood education development,” Kusugak said in a statement. “However, the finance minister’s comments are very one-sided and exclusive.”

Ed Picco, Nunavut’s health minister, was not discouraged by the omission of children in the North. “There’s some hope there,” he said.

Picco is involved in the Prairie Northern Fetal Alcohol Network, a group made up of representatives of the four Western provinces and the three territories. He said the group would make a case for extra funding for Inuit children.

The budget also disappointed many leaders of industry by postponing by one year the government’s promise to fund the much-anticipated broadband initiative. The project aims to increase broadband Internet coverage in Canada, particularly for rural or remote areas. Nunavut was expected to be ground zero for the initiative, which had a target date of 2004.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew called the postponement a temporary stay. “I don’t think the war is lost on that one,” she said. “There will be other budgets, other times. I don’t think that’s dead.”

On a positive note, a new investment program called the Strategic Infrastructure Foundation could see increased funding for a proposed new hospital in Iqaluit. The program is a partnership with provinces, territories and municipalities. A $2-billion federal contribution is expected to start flowing within months.

Small businesses in the territory could benefit from a federal tax break allowing them to defer corporate tax installments from January, February and March 2002 for six months without interest or penalty. It will defer, Martin said, up to $2 billion in taxes for small businesses.

He also reiterated last year’s announcement of $100 billion in tax cuts, and reassured Canadians that the new spending on security measures would not come at the expense of a balanced budget.

On the matter of tightened borders, Blondin-Andrew suggested some of the $7.7 billion in security initiatives should come Nunavut’s way. “The circumpolar borders are wide open,” she said.

It will be up to the premiers of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon to meet with their federal counterparts to discuss increased security in the North. Nothing has been planned, she said, “but I think it has to happen.”

Some might argue that because of their isolation, most northern communities are relatively safe from international threats. And, beyond that, there are many aspects of Nunavut society in more desperate need of funding than border security.

But in a budget so devoid of attention to the North, any suggestion at all that funding could come this way is reason to hope.