Our predictions for 2000

Here then are our humble predictions for the year 2000. Ridicule them if you must — but please, not too harshly…

Nunavut

* The people of the Baffin region will discover that a single Nunavut time zone isn’t so bad after all, especially on those beautiful spring mornings when the sun pours into their windows at four o’clock in the morning.

* The year 2000 will be marked by escalating conflict and confrontation between the Nunavut government and the unions that represent its employees.

* The Nunavut government’s decentralization secretariat will finally accomplish this year what the Nunavut Implementation Commission and the Office of the Interim Commissioner were unable to do over the past six years — they’ll figure out how much money job decentralization will actually cost the government.

* After discovering the true cost of decentralization, Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik will repeat the government’s commitment to decentralization in principle — while extending the period over which it will be implemented.

* So-called long distance “competition” will come to the northern territories in July — but Nunavut will remain Canada’s telecommunications slum, as local telephone rates continue to increase and affordable Internet access remains beyond the reach of most Nunavut communities.

Nunavik

* The Nunavik Political Accord will become a major issue in the Makivik Corporation’s executive elections this March, as candidates compete with each other to show who can get the best self-government agreement for Nunavik without selling out to the sovereignist PQ government.

* Nunavik residents won’t like it — but Nunavik’s new social housing administration will begin to collect rent arrears from Nunavik tenants.

Silarjuaq

* Jean Chrétien will decide to stay on in an attempt to lead the Liberal party to a third election victory. The decision will, however, prove to be disastrous for the long-term political health of the Liberal party.

* Israel and Syria will inch closer to an peace agreement, but there will be no comprehensive peace treaty in the Middle East until well after the U.S. presidential election.

* Egged on by their hawkish acting president, Vladimir Putin, the Russian army will capture Grozny, but not until after a bloody, senseless slaughter. After that, the Chechen conflict will degenerate into a dirty guerrilla war that will tie down hundreds of thousands of Russian troops and poison Russia’s relations with the West.

* Now that they have a functioning government again, the long-suffering people of Ulster will continue to implement the Good Friday Agreement, in spite of the IRA’s continued foot-dragging over giving up its weapons, and continued attacks on the peace process from anti-agreement unionists.

* George W. Bush will be elected president of the United States this November.

* Led by Curtis Joseph’s superhuman goaltending, the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1967.

* Pedro Martinez will become the Sandy Koufax of the 1990s this October, as he leads the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series victory since trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. JB