Paul Martin says no to Iqaluit

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — The Iqaluit city council feels its hands are tied. It’s running out of sources to turn to for money.

The Canadian government has flatly said “no” to the city’s request for more cash for road, sewer and water projects.

That’s left the council scrambling to find ways to pay for critical upgrades, said Mathew Spence, Iqaluit’s deputy mayor.

“We feel that this is a bit of a crisis — the fact that we don’t have the infrastructure dollars,” he said.

Now the city may be forced to hike taxes in order to raise more money.

“Ratepayers shouldn’t be surprised if they see a tax increase,” Spence said. “We’re also looking at raising user fees. We really have very little choice in the matter considering the lack of support we’re getting from the territorial and federal governments.”

Cash crisis, mayor says

A lack of money to pay for sewer, water and garbage infrastructure prompted mayor John Matthews to write the federal finance minister in March.

Matthews told Paul Martin that Iqaluit still doesn’t have the basic infrastructure it requires.

The city needs an incinerator, Matthews said, because the Nunavut Water Board has condemned the dump as a public-health and environmental hazard.

“We are also at the very limit of our water-treatment capacity and remain unsure as to how much longer our water supply will hold out with the continued growth of the municipality,” he said.

“We have the poorest roads of any major community in the country; and we lack the basic infrastructure other communities — and most capital cities — take for granted.”

The mayor then asked Martin to reconsider the way the Canadian government funds Nunavut.

Right now, money for infrastructure is given to territories and provinces based on their populations rather than their needs.

The mayor pointed out that Nunavut gets just a pittance — $2.1 million over five years.

“I’m frustrated. I’m pissed off. I’m really pissed off.”

– Mathew Spence, Iqaluit deputy mayor

Once that’s divided between Nunavut’s 26 communities, Iqaluit’s share is only $200,000 over five years.

The mayor argued that Iqaluit needs 235 times more than that, or $47 million, to pay for several critical projects, including:

• $8 million for the solid waste-management facility

• $3 million to upgrade the water-treatment plant

• $2 million to clean up three waste-metal dumps

• $5.6 million to replace aged water and sewer lines

No money coming

Despite Matthew’s detailed description of Iqaluit’s cash problems, Martin didn’t budge.

The finance minister said Ottawa already gives Nunavut more than enough money.

“The Government of Canada, which had to balance the viewpoints of many jurisdictions, believes that it is an equitable formula,” Martin wrote in his July 17 response.

He said that through the territorial formula-financing grant, Nunavut will receive $600 million this year — more, per capita, than goes to any other province or territory.

Martin’s response didn’t sit well with Deputy Mayor Spence.

“Through the excitement of creating Nunavut, the federal bureaucrats conveniently forgot that there was going to be a huge amount of infrastructure development that would be required,” Spence said angrily.

“I’m frustrated. I’m pissed off. I’m really pissed off.”

The city council now plans to write Prime Minister Jean Chretien to urge the federal government to change how it distributes money to the territory.