IQALUIT
For 10 hours on a Saturday, Nov. 7, cabinet and regular members of the legislative assembly gathered for the Nunavut Leadership Forum.

This event, scheduled halfway through the assembly's four-year term, is an opportunity for cabinet to prove itself and in some cases defend itself.

"A mid-term leadership forum goes back all the way to the Government of the Northwest Territories and it's a practice the Nunavut legislative assembly has adopted," Premier Peter Taptuna told Nunavut News/North.

The format of the review calls for the premier to speak about his government's successes so far, for up to 20 minutes, after which each regular MLA can ask three questions. Then each minister has the opportunity to speak on the successes of their department. MLAs then each have a total of eight questions, addressing them to whichever minister they choose.

Process valuable at times, says premier

Taptuna said the process is at times valuable, although he notes it's a process that can always be improved.

"It's a mechanism. I know some of these MLAs have indicated that during question period in session, they only have an hour. So they have very few questions that they can put out there. This gives them an opportunity to ask 11 questions. But, of course, it's an evaluation of the cabinet," said Taptuna.

Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes said that while the forum is a good way for the legislature as a whole to see the government "substantiate why they are there and why we should be keeping them there" he was disappointed throughout that questions were asked and not substantively answered.

"It almost felt like we were back in oral questions sometimes. There was a component where you felt the question wasn't being answered but, at the same time, sometimes it felt like the question wasn't even being heard. You'd ask a question and they'd come back with an off-topic response," said Hickes.

Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu MLA Pat Angnakak agrees, saying, "The answers were all very general. And there's nothing we can do to make it more specific."

A clarification question would result in the MLA losing one of the 11 questions.

"I don't know if I got what I was looking for. It almost just became a regular question and answer. I don't know that it served its purpose in the end," Angnakak said.

"I thought that maybe it would be more black and white with the answers, or maybe I would know more. But I don't think it created an environment where I came away from it saying, 'Gee, I didn't know that.' I didn't come away with anything new."

Fall sitting concludes

The fall sitting of the legislative assembly concluded Nov. 9 with the election of two new ministers. Hickes and Arviat South MLA Joe Savikataaq were voted into cabinet. The winter sitting typically runs for three weeks beginning at the end of February.

Mid-term reviews are no longer automatic in the Northwest Territories. The last official review was held on Oct. 22, 1997, although there was an effort to bring reviews back in 2009. A motion calling for the "revocation of appointments of the premier and executive council" put forward on Feb. 6, 2009 was defeated with eight MLAs voting in favour.

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