Kivalliq mayors frustrated
Lack of budget upsets hamlets
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Oct 30/00) - A frustrating experience. That's the way Kivalliq mayors are describing the mayor's meetings held in Iqaluit earlier this month.
Rankin Inlet Mayor Simon Okpatauyuk says Kivalliq mayors left the meetings without receiving any useful information on their main concern -- a five year capital budget.
 Jack Anawak, Community Government Minister, has Kivalliq mayors frustrated because he didn't follow through with a promise to produce details of the capital plan. |
"Community Government Minister Jack Anawak assured us he would give us the details of the capital plan before we left Iqaluit, but we never did receive the information," says Okpatauyuk.
The Rankin mayor says the lack of a budget keeps hamlets from starting new initiatives or improving existing services.
He says he's frustrated because it seems Iqaluit is the focus of the NG.
"There's other people who are suffering. Fuel costs are going up and we have nothing in this region for our communities.
"It's like our region is being ignored while the government focuses on doing as much for Iqaluit as it can."
Whale Cove Mayor Stanley Adjuk also found the meetings frustrating.
He says without a working capital plan, hamlets are kept in the dark about planned improvements.
Adjuk says he was disappointed Anawak didn't follow through with his promise to produce the plan before the mayors left.
"The main reason we went to the capital was to talk about a five year capital plan, but we weren't shown anything," says Adjuk.
"Right now, we have no idea if there's any capital projects at all planned for Whale Cove."
Adjuk says the Whale Cove school is in desperate need of expansion and too many corners are being cut to accommodate students.
"A storage room, we were going to use for carpentry and land skills, now has to be used as a classroom."
Adjuk says he didn't leave Iqaluit completely empty handed. He says Health Minister Ed Picco promised him Whale would have its second nurse by April. "That was my one piece of good news for going to the meetings."
