GN leaves Iqaluit unable to comply with water licence

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — An incinerator may be years away and a utilidor hook-up for residents in the Lower Base area is out of the picture thanks to the Nunavut government’s capital budget for Iqaluit.

The budget, revealed to Iqaluit town council last week, is lacking the money needed to pay for key projects in the territory’s capital, especially those that would allow the Town to comply with its new water licence.

“We were disappointed and concerned that we didn’t receive as much money as we had anticipated,” said John Matthews, Iqaluit’s mayor.

The Nunavut government’s capital plan will see it spend around $335 million for projects in all the communities over the next five years.

The government seemed to be aware that its capital plan would disappoint Nunavut’s mayors.

In a letter to the mayors, Finance Minister Kelvin Ng and Community Government Minister Jack Anawak wrote: “Please keep in mind that we are working diligently towards meeting community and government-wide needs and priorities with a limited amount of financial resources.”

No incinerator for Iqaluit

Matthews said he isn’t satisfied with Iqaluit’s share of the pie.

He said it won’t cover expenses to build an incinerator for the town, upgrade the water treatment plant, or get Lower Base residents connected to the water and sewer system.

The new incinerator is a contentious issue for Iqaluit’s council.

The Nunavut Water Board, in granting the town its water licence, demanded that Iqaluit stop the open-burning of garbage by June — but that requires an incinerator.

Matthews said now the incinerator is out of the question because the capital budget falls short of the $12 million needed for the project. Instead, the GN is handing over only $3.65 million.

Water supply running dry?

Upgrades to Iqaluit’s water treatment plant will be delayed because not enough money for that project came through either. The Town expects the project to cost $500,000, but it’s only getting $200,000 from the territorial government.

Matthews said the upgrades are needed to ensure Iqaluit’s water supply doesn’t run dry.

“Our concern is that next year at the Arctic Winter Games, when we have an influx of around 1,700 people, that’s going to tax the resources we have in the present water treatment plant,” he said.

Lower Base residents waiting for utilidor hook-up are out of luck.

This fall, the Nunavut government committed itself to giving the Town $300,000 to fund the hook-up. Residents in Lower Base are now serviced by water and sewer trucks, but the Town wants them to connect to the utilidor.

The $300,000 government grant would have helped alleviate the cost to residents, who want the kind of utilidor hook-up subsidy that used to be available under the GNWT.

Now that money is nowhere to be seen in the budget.

“I’m hopeful that it will come through because I think that’s something residents of the Lower Base were hoping for,” Matthews said.

But there is a small window of hope for more dollars to come through.

The Nunavut government, in a letter to the territory’s mayors, indicated that there’s $85 million that has yet to be allocated. The government can use that money over the next five years to fund other capital projects.

The government plans to consult communities and adjust the capital plan to include projects that are of utmost priority.

Matthews is optimistic that some of that money will come to Iqaluit. If that fails, he said, the council has already begun looking for other ways to get money for its essential projects.

At a Canadian Federation of Municipalities meeting in Ottawa last week, Iqaluit councillors learned about grants and programs available to municipalities.

The mayor is also planning to meet with Anawak and Iqaluit’s MLAs to discuss Iqaluit’s concerns.