Transparency, housing are key issues in Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu, candidates say
4-way contest shaping up to succeed Premier P.J. Akeeagok in his riding
Four candidates are running for the constituency of Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu in the Oct. 27 Nunavut election. From left, they are Walter Picco, Jacopoosee Peter, David Akeeagok and Tatanniq Lucie Idlout. (Photos by Jeff Pelletier, Arty Sarkisian and David Akeeagok)
Nunatsiaq News is publishing riding profiles ahead of the Oct. 27 territorial election. Keep your eye on our website to learn more about who is running in your area.
Four candidates are vying to succeed Premier P.J. Akeeagok as the representative for Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu in Nunavut’s legislative assembly.
The riding includes all of Apex and the area of Tundra Valley, Aqsarniit Ilinniarvik School and Arctic Winter Games Arena in Iqaluit.
Incumbent P.J. Akeeagok — who has served as the riding’s MLA and the territory’s premier for one term — is not seeking re-election.
While it’s the first time Walter Picco has run for election, politics have been around him all his life. He said that as the son of former MLA Ed Picco, he “pretty much grew up” in the world of politics.
Picco has worked in the Nunavut government in different capacities for 10 years.
He said his priorities include everything from improved housing and health care to cost-of-living relief and creating opportunities for youth.
He wants to bring “real transparency” to the government by creating an online public dashboard showing progress in housing construction, health-care wait times, job vacancies and grocery subsidy impacts.
For Jacopoosee Peter, the top priority is to get government out of areas where it should not be, he said. For example, education.
“That was the biggest mistake of our new fresh government — it assumed that government can fix everything,” he said.
Instead of the GN, he said district education authorities should have more say in how education is delivered.
Peter said he will work to open a trade school in Iqaluit through Nunavut Arctic College, similar to one in Rankin Inlet. A longtime interpreter-translator and a father of four, Peter isn’t a first-time candidate. He ran in the Iqaluit-Tasiluk riding in 2017, losing to George Hickes.
David Akeeagok is a father of seven and a veteran of Nunavut politics who served as minister with various portfolios in the past two governments.
For two terms, he has served as an MLA for Quttiktuq, where he is originally from. This time, he is running in Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu, a riding he has called home for the past 26 years.
That means he will be able to cast a ballot for himself for the first time in his political career.
“I still believe that I have lots to contribute to our territory,” Akeeagok said, listing housing, education and health as his main priorities.
He said that as a former chief devolution negotiator, his experience will be useful to prepare the territory to implement the devolution agreement with the federal government that takes effect April 1, 2027.
Tatanniq Lucie Idlout has never run for political office but said she’s not “unfamiliar” with the political process. She has been a transcriber and editor of hansard — the transcription of proceedings in the Nunavut legislature — for 25 years.
In her “former life,” she said, she has been a singer and artist.
With the national focus now on Arctic security and sovereignty, Inuit need to “define” that conversation so that Canada “sees its Arctic security on our terms,” she said.
That requires investments in housing, food security and infrastructure that will stop Nunavut’s over-reliance on diesel, Idlout said.
“We’ve come to a place where it’s time for change and I’d love to be the voice on behalf of people who live here,” she said.
I’m intrigued by Walter’s idea of a dashboard to track Government projects though I fear the bureaucrats will torpedo it.
Jack’s ideas on education are a recipe for disaster.
Akeeagok just wants another four years on easy street as the bureaucracy’s favourite bumbling sock puppet.
Lucie’s comments on Arctic sovereignty and security and the need for the north to be a bigger part of that discussion are spot on.
Nunavut’s Legislature needs new blood.
Elections in a democracy is a religion of a sort in that it is sold as a cure that heals all of our ills. It is something that it can’t possibly live up to. And beyond that it is used by the West in matters of external affairs as a reason to interfere with governments and peoples over there. In fact it is their resources that are being eyed, peoples and the nature of their governing bodies are not a concern in the least. Oil in the Mid-East, and in South America, and in the Ukraine (bordering Russia) has the interest of the powerful/the wealthy. It is why we see things playing out as it is. I am off track somewhat but the thing is elections and democracy as we practice it is far from a cure-all. Active, involved, considerate people with their community in mind matter far more than a vote and its result on election day.
You’ve touched on something profound here, though i agree you got a little sidetracked and people will focus on that. Still, the faith we put in democracy can serve to obscure or detract for the poor functioning and design of our democratic systems. Election results that yield representation with very little support is one example. Also, systems that place disproportionate power in the hands of the PM or Premier, feigning real democracy is another serious bug in the system that erodes legitimacy over time.
I would have put my faith in walter. Great friend loyal and transparent. New blood is needed.
Really great to see these 4 candidates, what a difficult decision for voters in this riding! The idea of the “online public dashboard showing progress in housing construction, health-care wait times, job vacancies and grocery subsidy impacts” is excellent. What an effective and flexible tool that can built up to include every other key Nunavut metric, to help us wisely spend public dollars on responsible economic development and territorial conservation. The other three candidates would be excellent contractors to support this if they were not elected.
David Akeeagok is a nice guy but I worry about his long long time in government and the fact that he was the numero uno sidekick to Premier Akeeagok for the past 4 years. It was a very weak administration that achieved little more than records for Photo ops and press releases. Before that he was a Deputy and just another go along get along type.
I am sorry, he is a nice guy, but he really has become way too comfortable as a cog in the wheel, and he just doesn’t represent change when change is so badly needed.
Please, vote for change in this riding and we can do the same across the rest of Nunavut.
Shake it up! Try something new.
I agree, it will be interesting to see how our government is actually doing since PJ is gone now, with all the smoke and mirrors removed how is our government really doing?
I sure hope the rumours aren’t true that the GN ran a huge deficit and no new projects being planned until they decide how to tackle that.
It’s no wonder PJ was not running again, it sounds like he ran the government into the ground. Hopefully that is not the case.
Time will tell.
“Instead of the GN, he said district education authorities should have more say in how education is delivered.”
Name me a single functional DEA in Nunavut? I’ll wait…
Our education system to a nose dive when Nunavut came to be and the bureaucrats wanted to take over and removed and cut the regional school boards that oversaw the DEAs regionally, now what we have is each DEA working alone on their own with very little support from the GN, all the power is held at the department of education with the bureaucrats, this might be the reason Inuit are so poorly represented in our schools system with no Inuktut curriculum and teaching resources. Our government seems to be struggling to work properly and there doesn’t seem to be any accountability.
If Nunavut had had a dashboard 4 years ago we would see that the government accomplished nothing in the past 4 years.
If Nunavut had had a dashboard in 1999, we’d see that we’ve gone backwards in housing availability and health care availability. We would see that most students still don’t finish high school. We would see that most who do finish high school still do not go on to college or university. We would see that most who do complete college or university still don’t return to live and work in Nunavut.
The information is all there in the publicly available annual reports.
What we are waiting to hear from each candidate is, “what are you going to do in the next 4 years, so that Nunavut will be in a better position at the end of those 4 years?”
You all tell us you want to lead us to a better place. Tell us how we will get there.
Part of this was already said after the “townhall” on October 9th.
Voters of this constituency should really take the time and make the effort to verify and review the performance and results delivered by David Akeeagok before they even consider casting a vote for him. This politician personifies everything that is wrong with career politicians. His contributions to the advancement of Nunavut and its people is so miniscule you would need a microscope to see it. He adds absolutely no value to the continually growing challenges facing Nunavut. There is nothing wrong with quote “old school” ways or thinking, but in his case the school is not only old, it is closed down. He simply has nothing new to offer. He just sat as a member of cabinet in one of the least productive and most dysfunctional legislative sittings Nunavut has seen. He speaks of issues in this article as if he was not in the last government. As if those issues are new or just now need to be addressed. He has had 2 terms to address them. But now he is saying if elected for a third term it will be the charm? No, a 3rd term will definitely not be the charm. Add to this, the fact that he changed ridings. What was the reason for the change? Why not let his previous constituents have their say regarding how they measure his performance? I think we all know the answer. Has anyone asked him about why he changed ridings? His answer really would not matter.
His salary at the expense of the Nunavut taxpayer with very little return should be put to an end in this election by the voters of this constituency. Then perhaps someone can step up and contribute in a positive manner to the future of Nunavut.
As for the other 3 candidates it was nice to see, for one of the first times, some ideas and actions. There were also some major points of interest and some questionable proposals such as:
* Candidate Jacopoosee saying, “less government” and then advocating to quote, “Instead of the GN, he said district education authorities should have more say in how education is delivered”. He clearly is completely detached from the realities of Nunavut. You want local DEA’s to basically set teaching policy??? Really. Maybe think NHO”s and let us know how that is working out. The last thing Nunavut needs is 25 DEA’s making up things as they go, different in each community (see other commentators point to that) and expecting the Dept. of Education to manage that. Again think NHC and how its going with them managing 25 NHO’s (actually not managing anything as has been clearly identified in the AG Report). This idea should scare the heck out of voters. The training school is a good idea and forms of that have been around for a while in Nunavut but have failed to yield strong results. Perhaps a rethinking and implementation of a broader strategy more cooperative with industry is in order.
* Candidate Pico was on the right track with increasing transparency of government and Nunavummiut would surely welcome that. However, a system is only as good as the people managing it and it does not offer actions or results to the problems. It just helps understand and identify if they are getting better or worse as another commentator previously mentioned.
* Candidate Idlout’s stand on Arctic Sovereignty is right on the mark regarding Inuit involvement in any plan regarding this. This will take strong leadership from the Government when dealing with the Fed’s.
Very nice to see this constituency get to have four candidates to choose from. It would be nice to see this throughout Nunavut in the future (would have been nice to see in this election also). So, remember. Keep asking candidates tough questions and expect tangible answers. Then make your choice for who you feel is best. Drive an Elder to the polls. Grab a friend and family member and GO VOTE!
Go David Go!
The issues that needs to be address on this campaign is to pull-out EDO contracts under Municipalities due to perceived mismanagements of Administrations and Financial operations where at times crooks tend to take advantage of Municipal Financial Affairs under CGS contracts! This is an on-going issue with steroids! The next step is permanently to PULL-OUT contracts of EDO between Community Government Services and Municipalities. Where EDO contract positions are under CGS! Any thought on this on-going issue?
John Main lost his way. Simple as that. Results are what counts. Not talk.
Wrong Riding. My bad.
everyone community has issues regarding how governing a constituency should be done , lots of reading to be had on this ! anyway we have not read about Kitikmeot candidates to this day ? Kugluktuk, Cambridge cancelled their debate what about in Kugluktuk any news ? we heard the saying before …no news is good news but I am a voter trying to make a difference.