Premier’s office not the place for job security
Akeeagok’s exit ensures Nunavut will have seventh premier in seven elections
Premier P.J. Akeeagok sits in the Nunavut legislative assembly. Uncertainty clouded his political future for three days in November with an attempt to oust him. The attempt proved unsuccessful. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
If job security is what you’re after, steer clear of the Nunavut premier’s office.
P.J. Akeeagok this week became the latest politician to be chewed up and spit out by the rough and tumble world of Nunavut politics.
The 40-year-old, first-term MLA announced he will not seek a second term when Nunavummiut go to the polls in October.
After less than four years in office, Akeeagok says he wants to spend more time with his family.
That has become such a political cliché, it’s almost meaningless as an explanation for walking away from elected office prematurely.
It’s hard to believe a 40-year-old ambitious politician who appeared comfortable on the national stage and who looked at ease rubbing elbows with prime ministers and premiers is walking away from politics for good.
It feels like there’s something waiting in the wings that he can’t talk about yet, even though Akeeagok denied that in the statement he released Tuesday.
His abrupt exit ensures Nunavut will have its seventh premier after the seventh assembly is elected in October.
There have been six legislative assemblies elected since Nunavut was created in 1999. Akeeagok was the territory’s sixth premier.
The average life expectancy of a Nunavut premier is about 4.3 years.
Of the six people who have held the job, only Paul Okalik — the first premier — served two terms.
Compare that to Parliament. Canadians elected their 45th parliament in April and Mark Carney became the country’s 24th prime minister. The average life expectancy of a prime minister is about six and a half years. Factor out the half-dozen very short-term prime ministers and the average is more than eight years.
More than half of the prime ministers served more than one term.
Does it matter if a Nunavut premier gets a second term? In Canadian politics, it’s generally understood that one four-year term is not long enough to accomplish some of the ambitious projects a government undertakes.
While Akeeagok led Nunavut’s government, it undertook some big ideas, such as the Nunavut 3000 plan to build 3,000 houses between 2022 and 2030. That eight-year program isn’t even at its midpoint, and the progress on homebuilding has barely even begun.
Might Nunavut benefit from a premier being able to lead the government for two terms and have the chance to see his or her vision through to completion? Probably.
The fact Nunavut burns through a premier every four years should make you wonder if something about Nunavut’s consensus government is broken.
We think of party politics — like in Parliament — as being a bloodsport, where the players go after each other aggressively in the political arena based on what party they belong to.
The myth of Nunavut’s consensus government is that it’s more polite than party politics. Not having political parties supposedly takes away the adversarial nature that defines Parliament and the provincial legislatures.
Nunavut can also be adversarial, just in a different way. It is not immune to political in-fighting. Both Akeeagok and Paul Quassa — Nunavut’s fourth premier — faced challenges from other MLAs in the form of non-confidence motions.
Akeeagok survived the challenge to his leadership last year.
Quassa, on the other hand, did not. MLAs ousted him in 2018, setting the stage for Joe Savikataaq to take over for three years until 2021.
Nunavut politics can be as cutthroat as federal and provincial politics — just with a uniquely northern twist.
Needing to spend more time with family has become a broken record. Everyone in a high level job knows that this is a sacrifice you must be willing to make—be it as an Minister, an MLA, an MP or a Premier.
PJ did a lot for Nunavut, much more than some past Premiers, but in a territory where leadership is closely tied to community and accountability, the public deserves more clarity than a familiar and vague sign-off.
Really, Inuit tearing down Inuit constantly, not just the Leg, NTI, RIAs,MPs.MLAs, Mayors, Hamlets, where do you live in a fantasy world, look around you, it’s everywhere in the world. News outlets compete to tear everything down, Social Media, is no better, and you where do you live, in the south, another keyboard expert
Good luck in your future quests PJ .
Are we now talking Leader or at least an MP within the liberal party??
We don’t have party politics. Maybe if we did we would have longer serving Premiers. They are chosen among the MLAs. Maybe time to vote for a Premier like we do for a NTI President. Let the people vote.
Our territorial political system is inherently undemocratic and flawed. Because we have no parties, no voter has any idea what he or she is voting for. Our vote is solely about the personality of the candidate. In other words, do we find a particular candidate to be more likeable, smarter or a harder worker than the others. It’s very much like a high school election. But one thing for sure is that we are never voting for policies or for a direction that we want our territory to take. As voters, we never have a say in that.
Once we vote in the most popular people in the election, these popular people get together and ask themselves “ what next? what do we do now?” At that point, the unelected Deputy Ministers and bureaucrats step in and say “ don’t worry. We’ll take care of that. We’ll draft a mandate for you setting out the government policies and direction for you to sign off on”. The popular elected politicians then sign off and that’s that. That’s how the sausage is made here. One important aspect of this is that at no point do the voters have a say in the government’s mandate or direction. And people wonder why they get frustrated at how things work here.
The Canadian political system is flawed, more generally. The party system, at least as it manifests in our country, is a key part of that. Strict loyalty to party and leader has made the role of an MP or MLA that of an empty suit, a voting machine that does whatever it is told. No room or need for talent here. What about this kind of system seems desirable to us?
Those dictator countries are better. Nunavut need those laws. Uncertainty and young territory is to be looked into by dictator leadership
A sure sign of party politics…
Howcome they always say things against their positions. Shouldn’t they be talking positive about their jobs or are they just upset because people don’t want them. I don’t know.
Courage and Love will get you there, Godspeed one and all.
Five year of posing and gliding is quite enough.
When it is time to judge the Akeeagok Mandate an honest person will say
1. that the housing priority is still pretty uncertain – if we listen to the auditor general. And
2. the “priority” for elders is photo-ops, slogans and institutional care, with even the construction in Rankin being the over-budget result of the prior Assembly.
Ut is true that he was cozy with Trudeau. That led to some small benefits.
But it is more than time l for someone new to be Premier. We have to hope that the newcomer will understand government and actually ensure that all that money and all those Human Resources actually work for Nunavummiut.
PJ just signed a 10 year agreement with the only commercial airline operating in Nunavut. While walking out the door I do not think making a decision for MLA’s yet to be elected was the right decision.
So I looked into my Crustal Ball, it was a little blurry but I think I seen PJ wearing a red Canadian North jacket at public relations events for the only airline company in Nunavut,