Mission impossible for Jack Anawak

Why was Jack Anawak chosen as interim commissioner for Nunavut? Because he is a crack administrator with a long track record for designing complex bureaucracies? Definitely not.

Anawak was chosen because of his long track record as a Nunavut leader who has served at various levels of politics and government since the late 1970s. Able bureaucrats may not be a dime a dozen but they can be easily bought while leaders with Anawak's experience are rare.

People are attaching great significance to the arrival of a senior federal bureaucrat in the interim commissioner's office as evidence Anawak is losing control.

If Anawak is expected to put a fully operational bureaucracy in place by 1999, he will almost certainly fail, as would anyone. He must not allow himself to be put in such a box.

As he told News/North last week: "My priority is that the people of Nunavut feel happy with the government of Nunavut."

If he loses sight of that goal, he will have failed in a way far worse than the delayed delivery of any number of "essential services" armchair critics can list.

Having the federal government parachute in a high-level bureaucrat to help assemble those services is nothing more or less than a sign people are coming to grips with the enormity of the task. More high-level help would be most useful and in no way erodes Anawak's authority.

How many decades did it take for the government of the Northwest Territories to evolve from a stuffy office in Ottawa to a billion-dollar, state-of-the-art bureaucracy in Yellowknife?

There will be a multitude of problems, the causes of which may originate in Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Ottawa or all three, and there will be criticisms of moving too fast or too slow.

Anawak will have to stand firm if he is to be successful in ensuring the outcome has the stamp of approval from the people of Nunavut, no matter how long it takes.

Sympathy for independent Internet services providers like Tom Zubko in Inuvik and Don Jaque in Fort Smith is easy to find. A GNWT contract with the Ardicom alliance means those who brought the Internet north are losing their bread-and-butter customers.

Competition is, of course, part of the real world, and all providers must face it. But by signing an exclusive contract with Ardicom, which is partly owned by NorthwesTel, the GNWT is saying it isn't necessarily interested in fair competition.

In our government-heavy business climate, independents should be allowed to compete with monopolies like NorthwesTel. Those that can supply better value for the money in each community should be given a chance to do just that.