IQALUIT - Despite the problems with the Nutrition North Canada rollout, executives of the territory's two major retailers both insist healthy perishable food is getting to their stores faster.

"The time to market is quicker, the spoilage is less," said Michael McMullen, executive vice-president of the North West Company which owns the Northern Stores.

He along with his counterpart Andy Morrison, the chief executive officer of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., appeared before the committee of the whole at the Nunavut legislative assembly in Iqaluit June 1 to answer questions about issues with the Nutrition North Canada program.

Members took full advantage of this opportunity as both businessmen were questioned for six and a half hours.

Uqqummiut MLA and Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth James Arreak compared Nutrition North to the Conservative government's attempt to end the long gun registry.

"It isn't well planned and it's going to become pretty expensive in some areas if it's not done well and the people who will miss out will be Nunavummiut."

Minister of Health and Rankin MLA Tagak Curley was direct with one of his questions about why the cost of diapers and other items are so high.

"Would you tell Nunavut's young families to that camera and tell them why you won't lower the prices?" he asked.

Products like diapers will remain on the eligibility list until October 2012 but after that will be removed because they are cheaper to ship on sealift.

McMullen said, in his company's stores, there has been a price reduction of almost six per cent on eligible products.

Since the new program came into effect, he said customers at Northern and NorthMart stores have saved almost $2 million.

Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott wanted to know how he could explain to his constituents why the prices are so high when the federal government is telling people they will be going down.

"Many of our constituents believe that retailers in the North use their near-monopoly position in our small communities to charge unreasonable mark-ups on the food that they sell," Elliott said.

Both executives told MLAs the price of food, fuel and energy is going up, which also affects their bottom line.

"The cost of living is staggeringly frightening," Curley said.

In April, the World Bank said commodity prices for wheat would rise 82 per cent, corn would go up 121 per cent and coffee by 80 per cent. McMullen said the North is not excluded from these increases. The cost of electricity in the territory is also increasing by almost 19 per cent.

Morrison said electricity costs are the second largest operating cost for the co-ops in the territory.

"Businesses have no choice but to pass these cost increases on to consumers," he said.

McMullen said stores owned by the North West Company chip in $38.6 million to the Nunavut economy through payroll and purchases of goods and services.

A long time complaint of many Nunavummiut has been the length of time it takes food to get to their communities, especially non-perishables.

Bananas for example, Morrison said, cannot be sold when they arrive black and frozen.

Now that Val-D'Or, Que., has been eliminated as the mandatory entry point for Eastern Arctic food mail both executives said there should be fewer delays.

As for quality control checks, McMullen said bananas are inspected and rejected at several points. He said items such as potato chips, which have a longer shelf-life, sit at their warehouse the longest.

Both executives said the unveiling of the new Nutrition North program did not leave time for companies to place their sealift orders with more things like pasta and paper products such as toilet paper. By May and June 2010, when the changes were announced, Morrison said their sealifts would have already been ordered and even packed.

Minister of the Environment and Arviat MLA Daniel Shewchuk wanted to know if any of the negotiated freight rates were lower than the subsidy rate received from the government. McMullen said when the new program was first unveiled, this was the case for three or four communities. He said the company went back to INAC and told it they did not need that much subsidy money.

Morrison said Nutrition North is designed to pass the subsidies to the consumer as it is ultimately them who will benefit.

"The new program does not provide any financial benefits to the retailers in the North," he said.

Sitting in the gallery were representatives from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. They were invited to answer questions but they declined.

"It is shameful and regrettable that they have not agreed to appear before the committee of the whole," Curley said.

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