Ignatieff uses Iqaluit visit to blast Harper on northern policy

National Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff tells reporters Aug. 11 that he believes Stephen Harper’s approach to northern Canada is all talk and no action. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

National Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff launched a 24-hour visit to Iqaluit Aug. 11 by blasting Prime Minister Stephen Harper for failing to “translate words into deeds” on numerous issues essential to life in Nunavut.

“The words from the prime minister are there. But not the action. There’s an infrastructure gap, a housing gap, there’s a self-government gap that he hasn’t closed,” Ignatieff told reporters.

Standing in the foyer of the Nunavut legislature following a behind-closed -doors meeting with Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak, Ignatieff reeled off a long list of infrastructure and public service shortfalls in Nunavut that he said the Harper government is ignoring.

“We’ve had empty promises about a deep water port that came to nothing. Iqaluit knows that. We’ve got an overcrowded airport. No action there,” he said.

He also lambasted the Harper government for botching its attempt at community consultation on a seismic testing project in Baffin Bay that the Nunavut Court of Justice blocked in an injunction ruling issued Aug. 8.

“The court has ruled. We look to the Harper government to reply… I’m the kind of guy who listens to communities, and we hope that Mr. Harper will do the same,” Ignatieff said.

The project, financed almost entirely by the German government’s Alfred Wegener Institute, would have seen the research vessel Polarstern conduct seismic underwater tests under the waters of Baffin Bay, including two days of work in the environmentally sensitive waters of Lancaster Sound, which is proposed as the future site of a marine conservation area.

Ignatieff said that after talking to Aariak on the issue, he understands that the people of Nunavut are not against development, but insist on timely consultation before potentially disruptive activities commence.

“What I hear the communities saying and the premier saying is, we’re not against development here, but you haven’t consulted us, let’s do it properly,” Ignatieff said.

Until recently, the federal Liberals dominated Nunavut, often winning the seat with landslide pluralities.

But in the Oct. 27, 2008 federal election, Conservative candidate Leona Aglukkaq, a former territorial cabinet minister, wrested Nunavut from the Liberals after mounting an aggressive, well-financed campaign.

When asked what his party will do to regain Nunavut, Ignatieff was short on details and long on rhetoric.

“Show up, first of all. My vision of Canada puts Iqaluit not at the edge but at the centre. I think Canadians have a tremendous sense of the centrality of the North to the Canadian experience,” he told reporters.

At the same time, he said a Liberal government would campaign in Nunavut by promising to fix the problems that he accused the Conservatives of ignoring.

“Let’s stop talking about how important the North is. Let’s get out and take these problems and solve them,” he said.

That includes stationing search-and-rescue aircraft in Nunavut, building long-promised small-craft harbours, and moving ahead with devolution negotiations.

“Devolution” is the term used to describe the process by which the province-like responsibility for Crown lands and natural resources would be transferred from the federal government to the Government of Nunavut.

Preliminary talks between Iqaluit and Ottawa on devolution began in 2004, but have moved forward at a glacial pace.

In 2007, consultant Paul Mayer recommended in a report to the Conservative government that they take a slow, step-by-step approach to the devolution of more powers to Nunavut, citing the territory’s serious capacity problems.

Right now, devolution talks have come to a halt, but Ignatieff said a Liberal government would move on the issue

“When will Nunavut really be master of their own house? No progress there, not even any negotiations,” he said.

On the evening of Aug. 11, Ignatieff will pop into the Storehouse Bar and Grill, a popular Iqaluit watering hole, for its popular Wednesday “wing night” promotion, then meet with Liberal supporters at the home of Kirt Ejetsiak, the Liberal party candidate for Nunavut in 2008.

On Aug. 12, he’ll visit a community greenhouse, meet elders, and take a boat tour of Frobisher Bay before flying back to Ottawa in the afternoon.