Nunavut finance minister to present budget as legislature resumes

MLAs’ winter sitting will run from Feb. 22 to March 14

Members of Nunavut’s legislative assembly vote during a sitting last November. MLAs are scheduled to meet from Feb. 22 to March 16 to discuss several bills and the territorial budget. (File photo by Emma Tranter)

By David Venn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The winter sitting of Nunavut’s legislative assembly is set to begin Wednesday, with six bills and a budget address on MLAs’ agenda.

The sitting is scheduled for Feb. 22 to March 16. On Thursday afternoon, the second day of the sitting, Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak will deliver the territorial government’s budget, according to a government media advisory.

Kusugak was not available for an interview about what will be in the budget.

There will be two government bills, which are pieces of legislation that are part of the government’s agenda, and four financial bills introduced, house leader David Joanasie wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

He said the bills have to remain confidential until they reach first reading, the stage where they are first publicly presented to MLAs.

There are three other bills that are still under review from previous sittings. They are:

  • Bill 12: An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, which looks at land that has been transferred to the territorial government;
  • Bill 13 looks at directing legal questions to the Nunavut Court of Appeal rather than the Nunavut Court of Justice; and
  • Bill 14: An Act to Amend the Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act, which looks at making the NEBS pension committee more flexible.

After the winter session, the legislature will break until late May. The spring sitting is scheduled for May 24 to June 6.

 

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(9) Comments:

  1. Posted by Uvaga ajursatuq on

    Nothing as usual for us Sanirajak-miun…..so we will have to relay on the Baffinland and other mining companies…..Of course…our small gov’t here will get some money…..only for a year to managed to operate the community…..nothing else….

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    • Posted by How it looks from here on

      Most Nunavut communities are completely unsustainable, will never have an adequate tax base, and will never be able to provide a place where a good quality of life is possible for residents.

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      • Posted by Contributing to Society on

        I will say that all of these communities could be completely self sustaining if and its a big one if people cared about their community. Most Hamlets and GN offices have open positions for entry level work any day of the week. If people took those jobs and did the best they could do, and worked hard for the benefit of the community then they very well could be self sustaining. Add in a bit of volunteerism and there is no reason why these communities cannot thrive, and a couple of them do!

        However most people are in it for themselves. This mentality was brought up by southerners looking to maximize personal benefit, and it has been picked up on by the younger generation. It is not what is best for community, it is what is best for them. We have almost no volunteers anymore or the expect to be “paid” which is not volunteering. This has all been learned from southerners and as long as we keep following this outlook of personal benefit instead of community benefit our communities will never be self sustaining.

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        • Posted by How it looks from here on

          Volunteering and investing personal energy into a community are great things and they can make a big difference. But when I say sustainable, I mean something a little different; to the effect that most communities have no viable prospects for real economic development that will support the growth of a tax base suitable for the provision of services and amenities anywhere close to the level of people’s needs and expectations.

          Also, acting in ‘self-interest’ is a characteristic of all life on earth. To reduce that to a southern import to off gas whatever animus is bouncing around your brain toward non-Inuit is ill-informed and unserious.

          Inuit have always, I submit, invested labour under the expectation of returns that will benefit them, just as anyone else. That does not mean indifference to the betterment and benefit to others in the process. We are all more complex than this cartoon you’ve drawn.

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    • Posted by Nothing on

      It’s time for Sanikiluaq to become part of Northern Quebec, Uvaga do you agree?

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  2. Posted by Yeti on

    Wake me up when these MLAs stop being gormless hand puppets of a deeply self interested and incompetent bureaucracy.

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    • Posted by Well Done on

      Gormless – love it. Way to sneak it by the NN censors – kudos.

  3. Posted by Way on

    How much do they over pay their selves a little?

    • Posted by Inside job on

      They will hide that answer or lie about it. Beware the backlash

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