Health care in Nunavut is a national disgrace.

That's what Health Minister Ed Picco said last year after release of the National Performance Indicators Report. Among other problems, Nunavut has the country's highest rates of suicide, chlamydia and tuberculosis.

Then, Picco said more money was the way to improve health services and the health of all Nunavummiut. That would allow his department to hire more health care workers, improve facilities and buy more equipment.

However, even as he spoke, his department was overspending its budget. Every year, from 1999 to 2002, the Department of Health ran a deficit that ranged between $10 million and $25 million.

Now, all that red ink has drawn the attention of government number crunchers.

The finance department calls the accumulated deficit "extreme." It has sent an accountant to help health department officials manage their $207 million budget. Of that money, $152 million is for operations and maintenance and $56 million is for capital expenses.

Right now, the territory is providing basic services that meet immediate needs.

For many complicated procedures, Nunavummiut are flown South to hospitals that have the proper equipment and expertise. Health officials estimate that between 20 and 30 per cent of Nunavut's health budget is spent on transportation and another 20 to 30 per cent goes to salaries.

For the next three years, Nunavut will get $10 million more for health from the federal government. That's only because of the courageous stand taken by Premier Paul Okalik and his counterparts from the NWT and Yukon.

That money will only pull the department even. It does not fully address the territory's pressing health concerns.

There's something wrong with this picture.

Yes, let's hope the finance department accountant can identify ways to spend health money more effectively.

But it's important the bottom line not get in the way of providing people with the health care they need.

And when that accountant goes back to Finance Minister Kelvin Ng, the report that's put on Ng's desk should show how much more money health care needs.

With that in hand, the government can go back to Ottawa with even more proof that the funding Nunavut gets for health from the federal government is not enough.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

Rankin Inlet hamlet council has the opportunity to start a new trend in deficit fighting.

While the hamlet's projected deficit will probably come in under the $121,000 being forecasted, just how far under remains to be seen.

In the meantime, council will be meeting to discuss doing its share to fight the expected deficit.

Council will be looking at reducing the honorariums paid for regular meetings and sitting on the various boards necessary to run a municipal government.

Councillors currently receive $200 per council meeting, while the deputy mayor receives $250.

Each councillor who sits on a committee is also paid $100 per meeting.

While -- when stacked up against many other municipalities -- the honorariums are certainly nothing extravagant, they do add up to a fair amount of change by year's end.

This is especially true of committee meetings.

Council is expected to lower the per meeting honorarium to $50.

More importantly, council will also look at ways to streamline committee efforts.

This will include the possibility of utilizing a schedule for committee meetings, instead of the ad hoc approach of the past.

There will still be a need for impromptu meetings to be called now and again, but, by and large, the scheduled approach will save the hamlet money.

Proper scheduling will also make the committees far more effective in the long run.

While it's true the lowering of honorariums and scheduling of committee meetings are no deficit busters on their own -- they do send a positive message and set a community standard.

Should the deficit approach the $100,000 mark or more, hamlet council will be looking at ways to knock that down without dipping into its accumulated surplus.

That means one or more departments will take a substantial financial hit.

If and when the bleeding starts, hamlet councillors will be quick to point out the first cut started with them.

And, in this case, even if the first cut isn't the deepest, it sends the message council is doing its part to allow the hamlet to continue moving forward.

Who knows, maybe this will be a message Nunavut MLAs will hear?

Maybe they will vote to roll back their latest self-voted raise when the next territorial budget eats up the remaining surplus and goes into a true deficit situation?

Of course, we are talking about a group of MLAs who voted against a fall election, despite the wishes of the people.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

The people of the Beaufort Delta presented a strong case against higher power rates in the North, but I doubt that it will be enough to convince the government or the power corporation to give us any special consideration.

The government has pulled the classic stall technique, just as they did during a fight between Northland Utilities and NTPC over Hay River's power franchise.

They said then that we'd wait for the Robertson Report until they made a decision.

Well, we all waited with baited breath for the report that recommended a flat rate for the territory and the government yanked back their outlandish proposal to lure business away from NUL in Hay River.

Now, they yanked back the Robertson Report in favour of the Bevington report that's due ... when is it due?

No one seems to know, because there is no firm date on the completion, but you can bet Mr. Bevington will wait until long after his employers are safely elected.

Until hired by the government, Bevington ran Stand Alone Energy in Fort Smith, a consulting firm that acted more as a dissenter of government power strategies than anything.

Bevington and Stand Alone fought every rate increase ever imposed by the power corp. and they were a major thorn in the side of the territorial government and NTPC.

I've seen the discussion paper prepared by Bevington and it has some thoughtful ideas on wind and solar energy, some pretty graphs and a legend on how the Energy Secretariat has spent its budget, but nowhere in there does it detail why we can't have one rate for the whole territory.

It seems to me that Bevington was hired by the government to shut him up for a while and to be the fall guy for a cabinet on the brink of political disaster.

A proposal by the hotel group and the McPherson Co-op is about the most sensible thing to escape the utility cash grab.

These guys are planning to grow their own power, using generators and micro turbines.

It's happening in Norman Wells and it's going to happen here, because some people just can't wait for reports to be written and governments to kiss babies.

The monopolies can only remain so until people get pushed too far and start to push back with ingenuity and seek alternatives.

What's gone on here with this Crown corporation must be quite a joke to outsiders looking in and it might be to us, if we didn't own the white elephant.

How many other corporations won't allow their stockholders to vote?

Well, I guess we'll all have that chance in November.

In the meantime, call your MLA and let him know you'd like to see a fair power price for everyone. While you're at it, you might even call Dennis Bevington and ask if his fridge is running.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

Smaller communities in the NWT get few, if any, perks. So there's a legitimate concern that gravitation towards Yellowknife will continue. Many people are attracted to opportunities in the capital.

If nothing is done, some people fear the NWT will wind up like the Yukon, where more than 70 per cent of the citizens live in Whitehorse.

It's been noted with envy that Yellowknife, even though it's not on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline route, will be getting the pipeline readiness office.

There are politicians in Yellowknife who have, it's been reported, fiercely defended the capital's right to retain the NWT Development Corporation when it merges with the Business Credit Corporation and Community Futures. It seems the suggestion that the new entity might be moved to Hay River has ruffled some feathers.

So when the little voice of Fort Simpson cries out for a share of rough diamonds, there's a perception that it's heard as nothing more than a faint whisper in Yellowknife. That's the easy thing to believe. The only problem with such a perspective is this: the GNWT can pressure the mining companies to turn over a certain percentage of rough diamonds, but it should not dictate to whom.

How badly do we want government to interfere with free enterprise? Where is the line drawn? The government could help the smaller communities in other ways, such as implementing a flat rate for power. Does that sound familiar? That would help lure businesses. However, in this case, the investors are already determined to base their enterprise in Fort Simpson.

There's no question the proposed diamond plant would be a huge boost for the community. The processing plant would employ upwards of 200 people, some of them locally trained. We'll definitely need to get to work on improving infrastructure to accommodate such an influx of people (that's not to mention the boom, however temporary, that will be created by the pipeline).

The fact that ground won't be broken tomorrow for the diamond facility is unfortunate. But it's not the end of the dream, as investor Leo Cordero has pointed out. Only time and economics will tell if this business proposal will sink or float. That's the way it should be.

Fort Simpson's firefighters aren't known for their fiery tempers. But the volunteer brigade sure didn't take kindly to a few village councillors so much as suggesting that the community's ambulance service should be sloughed off elsewhere.

At Monday's committee of the whole meeting, the firefighters expressed their resentment over a lack of consultation before the issue was broached by council. The volunteers also stated in no uncertain terms that they have raised enough money to cover the cost of a new ambulance. With generated revenues of approximately $50,000 annually, they also aim to pay for the extension on the fire hall. The firefighters took the issue so seriously that most are prepared to quit if council doesn't butt out.

Let's hope this hot spot has been extinguished.

In the April 14 article review on health finances it states that Victor Tootoo is a Certified General Accountant. The correct title is Level 6 certified general accountant student.