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GNWT talking out of both sides of its mouth NWT News/North - Monday, March 14, 2011
At best, our premier and cabinet seem unable or unwilling to be upfront and honest with the public. At worst, our territorial leaders are misinformed to the point of incompetence.
Our previous government, led by Joe Handley, has been the Deh Cho Bridge's go-to scape goat. However, as dubious as the last-minute approval of the multi-million dollar structure was, Roland's government bears full responsibility for the project's gross mismanagement. In 2008, Roland told the legislative assembly the previous government -- in which he served as finance minister -- committed the GNWT to the bridge project. Yes, backing out of the bridge project would have opened the GNWT up to potential and costly law suits, but it didn't commit the GNWT to rushing ahead blindly, skipping steps and putting NWT taxpayers at risk. Roland, on more than one occasion, assured the legislative assembly and the public the GNWT would assume the bridge's debt load only in the "worst case scenario." Thanks to our government's poor planning, that worst case scenario has become reality. Our cabinet can't even be up front about who decided to proceed with construction without the finalized design. Members of cabinet have tried to cast the blame on Handley, but government bureaucrats say otherwise. Handley's government may have signed the concession agreement but it was Roland's government who chose to move forward with construction without the final design in place. Auditor General Sheila Fraser called the move risky and costly. We call it reckless. Originally pegged at $165 million, the cost for building the superstructure has ballooned to $185 million and Fraser predicts that price tag to exceed $200 million. This isn't the only project the government has not been totally upfront about. The Taltson Hydroelectric expansion project -- with a current investment of $13 million -- has been a financial shell game. Deze Power Corporation, the investment arm of GNWT's NT Energy, has been planning to finance an investment of $700-million based upon on the sale of power to the diamond mines in the NWT. From the outset, the project's business model seemed pie-in-the-sky, banking on diamond mines, in the middle of their operating life, to switch from millions worth of generation infrastructure for an untested power line crossing hundreds of kilometres of isolated wilderness. Back in November, Minister Michael Miltenberger hinted at the project's inevitable failure. It was then he told the media only one mine was interested in the project and it would take all three buying power at a predetermined rate to make it feasible. Roland came out shortly after with a damage-control statement telling reporters that discussions are still ongoing with the mines. Fast forward four months and Roland's message was "clearly, the plan to initially go strictly to the diamond mines is not going to work." We expect Miltenberger gave away the truth months earlier. Our premier's inability to be upfront is starting to catch up with him and he can no longer keep his stories straight. It's time to demand accountability and the regular MLAs need to champion the cause. They could start with nailing down why cabinet approved construction without a design finalized, against the advice of the Department of Transportation, and how much the mistake cost.
Call inquest into Iglulik baby deaths Nunavut News/North - Monday, March 14, 2011 Last week in the legislative assembly, MLA Louis Tapardjuk asked the health minister to order an inquiry into the deaths of two babies that died with flu-like symptoms in Iglulik. He also stated Iglulik's hamlet council had sent a letter to the Department of Health and Social Services requesting a coroner's inquest be held. Time and time again, MLAs have raised concerns from constituents about what they see as inadequate care from community health centres. Being sent home with Tylenol occurs so often and for such a wide range of ailments, patients wonder if nurses are being provided with the ability, or the permission, to offer any other treatment. Among respiratory diseases, influenza and RSV, a respiratory infection, are the biggest killers of Nunavummiut infants. In 2009, the Canadian Pediatric Society recommended all Inuit babies receive a series of shots during flu season to help their immune systems fight off RSV, but the cost of the series of five monthly shots would be about $7,000 per child. When MLA Ron Elliott asked the health minister last week why this recommendation had not been followed, considering not only the health of the children but the cost of medevacs and hospitalizations that would be saved, Tagak Curley responded that recommendations change year by year and the government was going by the advice of its own medical staff. Nunavut's flu prevention campaigns emphasize flu shots and good hand-washing techniques, advising those who are sick to stay at home. But all the hand sanitizer in the world can't overcome the perfect storm of risk factors in Nunavut like inadequate nutrition, exposure to tobacco smoke, and overcrowded housing. Flu spreads through our communities like a wildfire through parched forests. So far this season there have been reports of flu outbreaks in Iglulik, Sanikiluaq and Arviat. With a population of around 750, Sanikiluaq logged 52 medevacs during its December-January flu outbreak. And in the midst of Sanikiluaq's flu crisis, its health centre was closed due to a fuel leak, forcing nurses to work in a makeshift location. However, the community's senior administrative officer said he was kept in the dark during the outbreak and only learned the details months later when Hudson Bay MLA Allan Rumbolt pressed for answers in the legislative assembly. This is reminiscent of the department's policy during the H1N1 pandemic of not identifying communities stricken by swine flu. Then, at least one SAO only learned the virus was spreading in his community when he got sick himself. Questions arise as to whether Nunavummiut have access to the best health care possible, and whether information on community outbreaks is being communicated in a complete and timely fashion to the people who ought to know. An inquest is the best way to get to the bottom of what, if anything, went wrong in the delivery of health care in Iglulik that may have contributed to the deaths of the two infants. And if the coroner finds problems with services provided by the Department of Health and Social Services, an inquiry should be ordered. The public has a right to know. Either people's confidence in Nunavut's health care will gradually be restored, or they should be made aware of how the system is being improved.
Judging the judge Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, March 11, 2011
The system is even murkier in the Northwest Territories where, as the NWT's top judge, Justice John Vertes, pointed out last week, most people filling our jail cells are young, uneducated and aboriginal. Sure, courtrooms are "public" but most people hardly have any inkling of what goes on in them. Lawyers and judges are separated from citizens-at-large by an invisible line, and not just because the legalese boils over to confound those of us lesser versed in the law. It's the aloofness of this institution that creates this divide. That's why it's a welcome occurrence for Vertes to take off his robe and mix it up, to engage the public and open a dialogue on the social and legal issues affecting our territory. Vertes broke the judiciary's silence after Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay expressed outrage in the legislative assembly over some of the jail sentences handed down in court, particularly those given to offenders with long criminal records. The most egregious example is that of Claude Harry, an Inuvik man sentenced earlier this year to five years in prison for beating Angus Kikoak to death after a night of heavy drinking. The judge in the case, Rene Foisy, awarded Harry a two-for-one credit for the time he had spent in jail waiting to be sentenced, which meant he only had three years left to serve in his sentence despite having a lengthy criminal record that included 19 prior convictions for violent assaults. Vertes is right to emphasize that there is much more to consider than the punishments handed out to offenders. The root of many crimes committed in the NWT is directly related to socio-economics, addiction, and a lack of opportunities -- and if governments don't do enough to address these issues, the criminal cycle is bound to continue unabated and unreformed. As Vertes observes, this affects our community as a whole. Businesses are fleeing downtown rather than putting up with the steady onslaught of crime borne out of homelessness and addiction. The closure of Yellowknife's halfway house and Dettah Treatment Centre add to the difficulties our community faces. But in his desire to point the finger at politicians and the parole board, Vertes avoids the introspection the public would like to see more often from the courts. He can talk about the "many factors" that go into a judge's decision all he wants but people still won't understand why a killer - even a drunken one - is jailed for only four years. Or how a Crown prosecutor can proceed with only a summary charge, involving a lighter sentence, for assault causing bodily harm - as was the case recently with a Yellowknife offender named George Koe, even though he sought a longer sentence in Alberta, where there are better rehabilitation programs. The judge declined the man's request in that case. Caroline Wawzonek, chair of the criminal law section of the NWT branch of the Canadian Bar Association, wrote in a letter to the editor in Monday's News/North stating judges can't respond to criticism for fear their statements would appear politically motivated. We can understand the sensitive nature of their jobs but it's a cop-out to suggest the courts are above the fray. Ramsay's statements in the legislative assembly have clearly left the judiciary rattled, and for good reason. If it was Vertes' aim to generate greater public support by his commentary of late, we suggest he climb down from his high bench a little more often.
A new route to change Editorial Comment Roxanna Thompson Deh Cho Drum - Thursday, March 10, 2011
The department is using an organization from Vancouver to lead a series of workshops in three communities, including Fort Simpson, teaching how to make a video from scratch beginning with idea conceptualization and ending with final editing. The initiative ties to the department's mandate because all of the videos that will be produced during the workshops will be about drug and alcohol awareness. What happened to the days of the slogan "just say no" and talks in schools by public health nurses on the evils of drinking and doing drugs? The answer is that the department and other concerned groups and individuals are battling against some stark statistics. The recently released NWT Addictions Report, which contains the results of the 2009 addictions survey, paints a dark picture of drug and alcohol use in the territory. On average NWT residents report having their first drink at the age of 16, three years before they can legally drink. Although the percentage of people between the ages of 15 and 24 who drink decreased to 75 per cent in 2009 from 87 per cent in 1996, the drinking is not just casual. Among current drinkers in 2009, 64 per cent in that age group reported consuming five or more drinks in a single occasion and one in four drank heavily at least once a week. All that drinking is having an effect. In 2009, 23 per cent of current drinkers aged 15 and over reported at least one type of harm from their drinking including harmful effects on friendships and social life, physical health and home-life or marriage. Education about drugs and alcohol has to start at an early age, and anything that could have a positive effect should be tried. As one of the workshop facilitators pointed out, youths love digital media and enjoy making videos and posting them on sites such as YouTube for people to see. If youths can learn video production skills while absorbing a message about making positive choices, it's a win-win situation. At first glance running a video-making workshop to send out a preventative message about drug and alcohol abuse looks excessive. These initiatives, however, have to meet youth on their own grounds and capture their interest in any way possible if a positive change in the statistics is to be achieved.
Give some motivation Editorial Comment Kira Curtis Inuvik Drum - Thursday, March 10, 2011
This is not something unknown, as I have heard many of you in town say the same thing - this community is generous and helpful. So, listening to superintendent Roy Cole speak the other night about attendance and how much education is lost to a child that misses even as little as 20 to 40 minutes a day - one full year by the time they finish Grade 9 - the question was: how can we help? The care in this community is obviously there, so how do we motivate children to go to school and care about it? Cole is faced with these questions and takes them to heart. He puts the hours in to meet with principals, teachers and parents, discussing how to get kids to absorb a quality education. His plan is addressing the root: the parents, the caregivers and the families. I agree with his tactic. It is up to us as the adults in these children's lives to be firm and give no other option but to show up and get educated. To be fair, and not labelled a hypocrite by those who knew me in high school, I was never that academic. I got bored easily and I couldn't spell if I was dangling over a pool full of sinister sharks and it was the only thing that could save me. (You can laugh that I'm now a writer - I do.) But the programs offered in the Inuvik schools range through all sorts of trades and languages and crafts. All we have to do is get kids interested and get them there. It's not for the certification. I only have a diploma that I got eight years after high school, but as Mr. Cole said: "We can only teach them when they're there." Whatever you can get them interested in in school is almost always better than what they'll get up to not going. We were all teenagers once, we should know. As such a giving and caring community we should be able to focus some non-monetary energy towards the kids we know. That type of giving could be priceless.
Energized to vote Yellowknifer - Wednesday, March 9, 2011
So as we draw closer to Monday's referendum on the proposed Con Mine community energy system, it's unsettling that the city does not have a business partner in place as residents are being asked to vote on whether to borrow up to $49 million. That's asking for big leap of faith when the richest project in the city's history is on the line. Robert Long, the city's senior administrator, has argued that a private partner - of which the city is supposedly reviewing three suitors whom we've been told nothing about - won't come aboard until it knows the funds to get the $60 million project off the ground are in place. But that's no guarantee a partner will ultimately sign on, and the prospect of the city going it alone is daunting. City hall, we must remember, is not a business. There is a degree of optimism among some landlords of the 39 downtown buildings that will be eligible to be hooked up to the district energy system - be it geothermal heat from beneath Con Mine, heat generated by wood-pellet boilers, or a combination of both. The landlords that spoke to Yellowknifer would like to avoid remaining at the mercy of the volatile fluctuation in oil prices and the fuel's dirty carbon emissions byproduct. That idea certainly does sound appealing. Nevertheless, at least a couple of those landlords, including Northern Property, the largest private real estate holder in Yellowknife, are reluctant to sign any long-term contracts with the city for what should be cheap heat. Ray Decorby, who owns two residential high-rises, summed up the sense of hesitation quite succinctly: "The big concern is you're really tied into their (the city's) good management or mismanagement of the operation," he said. We don't have to cast back that far for an example of the city getting in over its head. Its construction of the Multiplex in 2004 turned into an exercise in frustration. Costs for the $13 million project ballooned to more than $2 million over budget and it was well past its deadline when the city finally turned the recreational facility over to Diavik to complete. The hulking private sector diamond mine, with some assistance from Yellowknife contractors, used its corporate muscle and engineering know-how to put the second ice rink in place under-budget and finished earlier than anyone had expected. That's the advantage of well-run companies: they are more nimble than political bodies. Decisions can be made quickly from the top down. By contrast, even in a well-run city, the city administrator is accountable to mayor and council who are accountable to the people. Accountability to mayor and council is more important than cutting expenses and saving money. The Deh Cho Bridge shows how badly the most solid business case can go off the rails. Not only is the one-kilometre span over the Mackenzie River going to open at least a year later than predicted, its price tag has risen to $182 million from $160 million when the government took it over. Auditor general Sheila Fraser has criticized the territorial government for its handling of the bridge and has warned us that costs could continue to rise yet. Fired bridge officials have forced the government to settle out of court. It would be a shame if Mayor Gord Van Tighem is left in the same predicament someday - pointing out that oil prices have hit a devastating $200 a barrel, meanwhile Yellowknifers are still awaiting the promise of a now $100 million district energy system that is years behind schedule. If the city pushes on by itself, that is, unfortunately, a potential scenario.
April 1 looks like bad omen for new federal program Darrell Greer Kivalliq News - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Doubts over whether the new Nutrition North program will actually cut food costs for Nunavut residents continue to rise as its April 1 launch looms ever closer. Nutrition North replaces the old federal food mail program administered through Canada Post. The new program removes the transportation subsidy and gives it to the retailers, who must work out their own freight deals and pass the savings onto consumers. The date selected to officially launch the program aside, Nunavummiut seem to be increasingly adamant over the fact they won't be fooled again by a government program that caters more to the needs of business than local consumers. And we give kudos to people like Iqaluit's Tony Rose, who launched a website for people to list the price of food items in their community. We strongly encourage people in Kivalliq communities to take the time to keep food prices in our region up-to-date on Rose's website during the next two months. Like everyone else, I'm hoping for the best, but early indications on the program's effectiveness are worrisome to say the least. Since the feds started axing subsidies on the old program this past October, some retailers have reported freight increases of more than 600 per cent on items that didn't make the feds' list. Put that next to the subsidy you can expect on accepted items with the new program, and don't expect your grocery bill to drop unless you're buying nothing but items from that accepted list. It's like getting 10 per cent off the price of your rims, while 40 per cent is added to the cost of your tires. Not good math on the wrong side of the checkout. One major southern retailer has already announced it won't use the new program for individual ordering because of the amount of paperwork involved, and the rumour mill has another making the same decision in the near future. Smaller retailers in the Kivalliq are also saying they don't have a chance to compete with the bigger stores under the new system, which doesn't bode well for the feds' contention that competition will keep the retailers in line with their prices. And, as you're reading this, we challenge you to name more than one person on the program's so-called advisory board. We also ask you to name one piece of advice the board has stated publicly since being put in place. The airlines and major retailers are here to make money, not partner with the feds as nutrition cops. And they're going to crank their prices as high as they can on everything not on the Nutrition North OK list. If you're willing to pay $3.19 for a small shot of Red Bull, you'll find cases of it at your local retailer. The way it's looking right now; what you save on healthy or essential items, you're going to give right back on those not on the list and heaven forbid your kids may enjoy a Cheez Whiz sandwich every now and then. At the end of day, it looks like you're going to pay the same for those six bags of groceries (oops, we mean three reusable cloth bags), in April as you're paying right now. Maybe there's something to that April 1 start date after all.
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