by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 29/97) - Hit by approximately 200 territorial job cuts in the past two years, Yellowknife is about to get hit again.

The proposed 1997-98 budget requires 242 of the existing 2,644 full-time, part-time and casual positions be pared from the government's capital workforce.

The majority, 211 of the jobs to be terminated are full-time.

Yellowknife Mayor Dave Lovell said this series of cuts will hurt the most.

"The first cuts tended to be positions and people who tended to be going anyway," said Lovell. "These cuts is affecting a lot of people who would have stayed otherwise."

The Finance Department estimates that between now and April 1, 1999, an additional 300-400 jobs will be moved from Yellowknife to the new Nunavut government.

On Monday finance minister John Todd said the jobs are not being lost, they are being moved.

Lovell said that is cold comfort for Yellowknife.

"Yellowknife's loss is Montreal's gain," he said, noting Iqaluit's natural trade route flows south to Quebec rather than west into the territories.

The city is the only community slated for an increase in operations and maintenance spending, up $2.3 million over this year.

Capital spending will be cut by $6.4 million, but overall Yellowknife's share of the territorial pie has changed little.

Capital expenditures assigned to headquarters are up 2.5 per cent and operations and maintenance is up a percentage.

Capital and operations and maintenance estimates indicate money administered through Yellowknife. The funds do not necessarily flow directly into the city.

Yellowknife will also have to absorb a small loss in block funding it receives from the territorial government.

The government is hoping to cut the operations and maintenance portion of block funding by five per cent next year.

That means $41,000 less for Yellowknife. The city receives a total of $5.6 million in block funding from the government.