Rankin bli ard blows assembly session off course

SEAN McKIBBON

YELLOWKNIFE — A bli ard in Rankin Inlet has delayed the start of the legislative assembly session slated to begin there Feb. 16.

As of Nunatsiaq News press-time this week, legislative assembly officials were hoping to start the Rankin Inlet session at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 17 (yesterday).

“We’re all set up and ready to go,” John Quirke, the clerk of the Nunavut legislative assembly said on Wednesday. “We’re just waiting for members to arrive.”

A bli ard in Rankin Inlet on Monday forced two airplanes carrying some Nunavut ministers, their aides, and Premier Paul Okalik to land in Yellowknife instead of Rankin Inlet.

The opening session of the Legislative Assembly’s special sitting in Rankin had been set for Wednesday Feb. 16.

“Okay. What’s Plan B?” asked Education Minister James Arvaluk after the Canadian North aircraft he was riding on had made two unsuccessful runway approaches and had settled into flight towards Yellowknife.

But judging from the flurry of hasty meetings by bureaucrats and the haggard look on the flight attendant’s face there was no plan B.

“I called the Igloo Inn at 11 a.m. and they only had eight rooms,” said one bureaucrat. She said she had heard another government worker had already booked a couple of rooms at the inn, but was unsure how many rooms would be left once the planes touched down in Yellowknife.

On the plane, news went about that a bevy of Japanese tourists had descended upon Yellowknife for the city’s annual Northern Lights festival and that most of the hotel rooms were booked up.

As the passengers exchanged worried looks and phone numbers of people who could possibly put them up for the night Premier Paul Okalik joked, “The GNWT’s legislative assembly building isn’t in use right now. We can hold the session there.”

Once on the ground, most passengers not trying to retrieve their luggage had headed for the telephones to call friends for a place to stay. But Canadian North staff informed passengers that the airline would pay for a night’s stay at the Discovery Inn and that rooms were available.

A First Air flight scheduled to leave for Rankin Inlet the next day would carry everyone back to their original destination, a Canadian North booking agent said.

But further worsening of the weather in Rankin caused the re-booked First Air flight to be canceled and the wayward Nunavut leaders were forced to wait for a flight into Rankin on Wednesday — the same day the session was scheduled to start.

Also on Tuesday, Canadian North decided that the passengers it had re-booked with First Air were no longer its responsibility and the government would be left to pay the $102 a night per room that the Discovery Inn charges government workers.

One minister’s staffer estimated there were 30 people from the government of Nunavut temporarily stranded in Yellowknife.

“I would have preferred to go into Rankin, but we’re making use of the time we have in Yellowknife. I’m going to be meeting with the new premier of the NWT,” Okalik said Tuesday.

He and NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi would talk about mutual projects they are working on, such as the Diavik mine and the upcoming Northern Leaders Forum, he said.

Quirke said on Wednesday that the weather in Rankin Inlet appeared to be clearing, and that it was likely that planes would be able to arrive there.

He said that the session will likely continue until Feb.29, as originally scheduled, and that MLAs can easily make up for the lost day by holding a Saturday session.

Nunavut residents outside of Rankin Inlet may watch packaged excerpts of each day’s proceedings on APTN every evening at 8:00 p.m. Nunavut time, starting next week. There will be a two-day delay, however, in the broadcasting of each day’s session.

That’s because of the lack of satellite uplink facilities in Rankin Inlet. Videotapes of each session must be shipped to Yellowknife to be broadcast from APTN facilities there.

With files from Jim Bell in Iqaluit.