Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Dec 21/98) - Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak has presented a $580 million preliminary budget for Nunavut's new government.

The lion's share of that money -- 66 per cent or $381 million -- has been allocated to the departments of health and social services ($112 million), community government, housing and transportation ($127 million) and education ($142 million).

"This preliminary framework emphasizes the importance of delivering quality health, education and other social programs and services," said Anawak.

The remaining eight departments have been given $199 million for their total estimated expenditures.

Anawak also announced that policy reserve funds had been set aside to allow the incoming Nunavut members of legislative assembly to make some decisions concerning their own priorities.

Of the total $620 million in expenditures, 90 per cent of the revenues come from the formula financing agreement with the federal government and the remaining 10 per cent will come from taxation and other territorial sources.

While the framework will provide guidance for the newly elected body, the proposed budget will still have to go through formal approval once the new legislature is sworn in on April 1.

Penny Muller, Anawak's Chief of Staff at the office of the interim commissioner, said that the federal department of Indian and Northern Affairs, had doled out $150 million over a four-year period to establish the new territory. The OIC actually only manages a small percentage of those funds, the brunt of which have primarily been handed over during the last year.

"I think what they had set aside for us, the Government of Nunavut salaries were $5 million and $3.7 million for operations and maintenance costs," said Muller.

Muller said that figure was not sufficient however, to properly set up all 11 of the departments so they went back to DIAND and asked for an increase.

While the government gave a verbal commitment to increase the dollars that will be used to hire approximately 50 new staff members, the OIC has not yet received all of that money but Muller added that they were working on the assumption that the dollars were in the bank.

Once the increase does become official, the amount of money given to OIC to establish the government framework will roughly total $30 million.

As far as limiting them in their ability to fully set up their offices, Anawak said the insufficient funding had not caused what's been pegged as a hiring and travel freeze for government officials.

Anawak said that even though the hiring of several new employees had been delayed, it was because the deputy ministers were actually ahead of themselves.

He added that by limiting travel for his employees, money for more necessary travel as April 1 approaches would be available.