Iqaluit (Jun 19/06) - Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson wants to know what's become of the health department's "Closer to Home" strategy it announced in 2004.

The strategy was supposed to create ways to provide more health services in the communities, but Health and Social Services minister Leona Aglukkaq said that doesn't mean services will be available in every community.

Aglukkaq said the construction of hospitals in Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet keep more patients in Nunavut.

Hike age for welfare, MLA says

Raising the minimum age for income support from 18 would encourage young people to stay in school or get a job, Uqqumiut MLA James Arreak said during the Nunavut leadership forum Wednesday.

Arreak was questioning Education Minister Ed Picco about Nunavut's 75 per cent high school drop out rate.

"Students who turn 18 and think if they do not want to go to school, they do not have to go to school," he said. "They believe than can receive income support assistance and contribute to their families that way."

Picco said the government has introduced a program that encourages young parents to stay in school by paying day care costs for those eligible for income support.

$5 million divided

Smaller communities without decentralized government jobs will each get a piece of the $5 million in economic development funds, minister Olayuk Akesuk announced Monday.

The 14 communities will each get $100,000 for projects outlined in their community plans. The remaining $3.6 million will go to develop projects in fishing minerals and tourism sectors.

Tootoo waxes poetic

Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo gave a poetry recital on the floor of the legislature Monday.

Tootoo was paying tribute to participants of Iqaluit's first poetry slam held at Inuksuk high school in Iglulik. The MLA read a poem by Pat Williams entitled "Winners Versus Losers."

"A winner says, there ought to be a better way to do it. A loser says, that's the way it's always been done here," Tootoo read, showing astute command of iambic pentameter.

Not to be outdone, education minister Ed Picco countered with a curious combination of John Donne and Alfred Lord Tennyson.

"For whom the bell tolls, break, break o mighty seas on these twisted torn rocks."

No language complaints

Nunavut's standing committee on languages got an unexpected surprise in an annual report from language commissioner Johnny Pujjuut Kusugak.

His office didn't receive a single formal complaint from the public in 2004-05.

"This could be interpreted to mean that the government is doing a good job and that Nunavummiut are satisfied with the current services being provided in their official languages," said committee chair Steve Mapsalak. "Or it could mean that Nunavummiut aren't aware of their rights."

The report stated the government continues to receive complaints about language services in the hamlets, though it has no power to investigate them.

Auditor General's report review

The legislature's government operations and accountability committee released the results of the review of Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report on the state of Nunavut's finances.

The committee made 15 recommendations for changes to the way the government collects and reports financial information.

In February, Fraser called the government's financial management "weak and fragile."

The government responded by agreeing with 16 of her 18 recommendations.

The government has four months to respond to the committee's recommendations.