Manley consults Nunavut leaders on federal budget

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

In a teleconference Wednesday with John Manley, the federal minister of finance, Nunavut business and community leaders said the federal government must spend more on health care, education and infrastructure in the territory.

Manley has been conducting pre-budget consultations across the country in the lead-up to the release of the federal document at the end of February. He was in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday and took part in a Yellowknife videoconference on Monday.

Nunavut leaders sent Manley the same message they’ve sent the federal government many times before, but on the eve of a premiers’ meeting on health, and just weeks before a first ministers’ conference on the same subject, that message took on greater significance.

“It’s just a matter of repeating it over and over again,” said Jose Kusugak, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, in an interview after the forum.

John Lamb, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s chief executive officer, told Manley that many of the federal government’s promises to Inuit have yet to be fulfilled.

“Many federal obligations under the land claims agreement remain unimplemented,” he said. “That needs to be part of the way Canada looks at its obligations to Nunavut.”

He cited a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers that said Ottawa’s failure to meet its obligations is costing the federal government $27 million a year in the recruitment and relocation of southern employees and social welfare costs to unemployed Inuit.

The cost to Inuit, he said, is a whopping $164 million in unrealized salaries and benefits.

Manley had little to say on the subject of Ottawa’s obligation to Inuit. “I’m not exactly au courant about what stage those proposals are at,” he said.

But he expressed some knowledge of the high cost of living in Nunavut. “I always make it a point to go into one of the food stores so I can go home and tell people what things cost.”

Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist for the territorial government, and a representative of the Nunavut Employees Union, told Manley that groceries are only one part of the cost of living.

“The issue is not so much wages, as it is equalization,” he said. “Fifty-four per cent of people with jobs in Nunavut work for government. When people get jobs, they have to be able to live.”

Manley acknowledged that the cost structure in Nunavut is unique, but wouldn’t say whether the federal budget would make provisions for it.

“I don’t know yet and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” he said during a portion of the session set aside for media questions.

Premier Paul Okalik joined Manley in Ottawa mid-way through the discussion, but did not contribute, choosing instead to give the floor to those gathered hundreds of miles away in Iqaluit.

The videoconference format allowed Manley to meet with representatives in remote regions without making the significant time investment to travel here himself.

The format worked well, except for some blurry spots on screen and a time delay that made it difficult to converse regularly.

“Is that the picture we’re going to see with all those blotches?” Kusugak asked as Manley’s image faded in and out of view.

“Tell him to put more money in for videoconferencing.”