Ordinary MLAs like to slam Yellowknife for hogging jobs, money and power. While capital bashing is almost as much fun as fed bashing, doing so tends to cloud the facts.

Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger has been especially vocal about the regions bearing the burden of government job cuts, complaining that the number of government positions actually increased in Yellowknife.

Miltenberger's accusations raise many more questions. Just how much actual downsizing took place with division? How many high level positions disappeared compared to the rank and file jobs? The only thing we know for certain is how much the budget was reduced after division.

Programs and capital projects appear to be dropping like flies but are headquarters' expenses?

In the us-versus-them world of politics, even the best of neighbours can sometimes become the worst enemies.

Throw in billions of dollars worth of investment and the game can get even more cutthroat.

Not that it's happening yet, but that's the potential in the high stakes debate over the best route for a natural gas pipeline to tap into the Mackenzie Delta's reserves.

Already, members of the Yukon government are making their pitch as to why piping the NWT's gas -- and even more from Alaska's untapped reserves -- through their territory makes sense environmentally and financially.

NWT government and aboriginal leaders say the Mackenzie Valley is the best route.

NWT Premier Stephen Kakfwi and other leaders have refused to get drawn into a nasty debate over which route is best because they know the determinant will be the economics of each competing route.

That means not only the estimated $3 billion cost of building the pipeline, but whether the market and price for the gas it would bring to the energy-hungry south will bear the capital investment.

Weighing in our favour is the existing right of way south of Norman Wells. Some of the big pipeline companies are also saying the Mackenzie route is best.

Even so, the pipeline route and all it will bring to the North is not clear. The project failed to go ahead in the 1970s, in part, because we weren't ready.

We're closer today, but Deh Cho and Akaitcho Treaty 8 land claims and even the status of the Metis Nation present uncertainties. As well, benefits and ownership of the gas development and pipeline have to be defined. The other impacts gas development and a pipeline -- environmental and social -- will bring also have to be explained.

The fear is that we could get caught up in a race for the rewards and forget that we need to ensure that the project proceeds on our terms, to everyone's mutual benefit.

It's interesting to sit back and think about what Nunavut politics would be like today had the gender parity plebiscite passed in 1997.

Calling for the creation of a mere 11 or 12 electoral boundaries, with a female and a male representative to hold office in each, the concept was put forward as a means of ensuring that equal numbers of women and men would hold office in the new territory.

It was also supposed to make sure that the concerns of women in Nunavut would be adequately represented.

However, of the voters eligible to cast a ballot on the plebiscite, only 39 per cent bothered to turn out to the polls and with the exception of a few communities, gender parity received a resounding no.

Hurt feelings abounded and Pauktuutit's then-president Martha Flaherty called for the resignation of Manitok Thompson, the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Council, because Thompson publicly opposed the motion.

Two years later, during the territory's first election in 1999, only 11 women put their names forward as MLA candidates.

A total of 60 men however, threw their hats into the ring.

If the need for a stronger female presence both in the Legislature and across the board in Nunavut wasn't so strong, it would even be fun to make a few humourous predictions about what life would be like.

But, in that just one of our 19 elected representatives is a woman, the situation is anything but a laughing matter.

Qulliit, Nunavut's version of the Status of Women Council, is at last up and running. Their work is just beginning.

In many fields, women workers are few and far between. Particularly in the trades, there are few women working.

The result is that women like Kugaaruk's (Pelly Bay) Isabella Inuksaq and Maryjean Nalungiaq are rarities rather than the norm.

Honoured for the non-traditional roles the pair play in the Kitikmeot, they were publicly patted on the back in a community ceremony on International Women's Day.

The event was significant and similar ones have to be adopted by more of the territory's hamlets. In fact, we are obligated to do everything we can to launch our female role models into the public eye.

It is imperative and crucial that the younger generations are given the immediate opportunity to mimic the women who make a difference.

Change is slow and time is running out. Nunavut just turned a year old over the weekend and the next election is a mere four years away.

We must act now if we are to increase the number of publicly elected female officials by that time.

A host of successful career fairs have taken place at schools in the Baffin region this year.

The fairs are the brainchild of the regional office of the Department of Education in Iqaluit. The amount of work it takes to organize such an event -- rounding up business people and educators, transporting them to the communities and hosting the event -- has not gone unrecognized by participants.

The importance of providing a venue for students and community members to come together to explore employment and learning options available in Nunavut is can't be overestimated.

Encouraging students to further their academic studies and then pursue meaningful careers is the key to our future.

The Peter Gzowski Invitational golf tournament held in the capital last week, raised $35,000 for the Literacy Council.

Gzowski, along with his celebrity guests have shovelled millions into reading programs throughout the country and each year, they fly back North, to have a few laughs and raise cash.

Reading programs for moms and kids have been established, literacy programs have been started in the communities, the council has promoted Family Literacy Week and Read To Me kits were all made possible with help from this golf tourney.

The yearly infusion of cash from Gzowski and co. is much needed and much very much appreciated. Thanks Gzowski, you're alright -- for a radio guy.