Bigger isn't always better Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, November 20, 2015
In the last few weeks talk has turned to the future of the current Stanton Territorial Hospital.
Although the territorial government has brainstormed a number of acceptable uses for the old building, redevelopment will ultimately be the responsibility of a private sector company due to an agreement made with Boreal Health Partnership, which is constructing and operating the new facility.
Some possible options include medical and dental offices, pharmacies, assisted living or accommodations for hospital staff. Other possibilities include space for restaurants, hair salons, gyms or child care.
Recently, Kam Lake incumbent David Ramsay suggested converting the building into a mental health and addictions centre during a territorial elections forum. All of these ideas are no doubt well-intentioned, but the question remains: why exactly do we need a new building anyway?
Up until a few months ago, the GNWT said it would be expanding the existing hospital over the course of five years, doubling its size to 24,000 square metres. Then in October, with little pomp or ceremony, it revealed it would instead be constructing an entirely new facility.
The project went from an estimated cost of $200 million in 2011 to its current $350-million price tag and the reasoning was bluntly chocked up to economic sensibility. With the GNWT clawing back funding across the board and constantly reiterating how strapped for cash it is, what other initiative will lose to make up that extra money? How will it pay staff for the new positions at the hospital and those in this new facility - whatever it may be - as well? Is it forgetting the mounting upgrades the current hospital requires - the very reason a new hospitable was needed in the first place. Will there be money set aside to bring the building up to the standard it needs to be at in order to accommodate any one of those suggestions? Or will it be left empty as has been the case, with other former GNWT buildings.
This isn't the first time the territorial government has embarked on major projects with escalating and unexplained costs. Most recent examples are the Deh Cho Bridge and the Inuvik-Tuktoyuktuk highway.
Given that a new crop of MLAs are set to be elected to the legislative assembly, the GNWT needs to provide justification for any decision to further burden taxpayers. Overspending without explanation never makes economic sense.
Council must be watchdog, not lapdog Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, November 20, 2015
With a draft city budget revealing about $113 million in planned infrastructure spending over the next five years as well as $16.6 million in city capital spending for 2016 alone, city councillor Niels Konge was correct -- and disturbingly alone -- when he asked what the real pocket book impact would be to taxpayers.
According to the draft budget forecast, these projects will mean increased property taxation to the tune of 2.87 per cent in 2016.
On top of tax increases city staff is recommending rate increases over the coming years for water, sewer and solid waste management.
While categorized as "fees" rather than taxes, the semantic distinction loses its significance when it comes to writing a cheque to pay for it all.
Good on Konge for voicing concern over the impact of both potential tax increases and user fee increases. He takes his role as administration watchdog seriously.
That's his job and the job of each council member. It's a big part of what they were elected to do.
Every line item in this draft budget represents taxpayer dollars. Our councillors were elected to watch over how those dollars are spent and to keep an eye to how they are raised, whether through taxation or borrowing.
Administration and council are bound to clash in coming budget deliberations, and clash they must if councillors are to be watchdogs and not mere lapdogs.
Domestic violence absent from
election talksDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, November 19, 2015
Candidates for the Deh Cho and Nahendeh ridings have circled the spectrum on social issues they feel should be addressed in the next legislative assembly.
Housing, youth and health care have all appeared regularly in campaign messaging; however, the discourse around one of the territory's largest social issues is seriously lacking.
Domestic violence is difficult to address because it so often happens behind closed doors.
It happens to families you would never expect.
It happens to the poor, rich and middle class.
It happens to same-sex couples and it happens to men.
The failure of candidates to raise their voices about domestic violence reflects the failure of the GNWT to fully address these problems and find effective solutions.
Admittedly, Deh Cho Drum contributed to this silence with a recent profile of Deh Cho incumbent Michael Nadli.
The profile failed to address Nadli's recent conviction for assault causing bodily harm -- an omission that slipped past many eyes on the way to print.
Those of us who fail to speak up about domestic violence enable the abuse to continue.
Deh Cho Drum has taken steps to rectify this by reaching out to Nadli about his conviction, asking if he would make domestic violence a priority if reelected. He responded, "given the opportunity, I am committed to help in addressing the high levels of domestic violence and ensure that programs and services are in place to assist people that find themselves in those situations."
Often, we hear advocacy organizations refer to "breaking the silence" surrounding domestic abuse. The silence they refer to is a personal one, individualized for every victim. The silence is disenfranchisement, fear and hopelessness.
It must be broken over and over again if our society ever hopes to address this issue.
In the final days of the election campaign, candidates should focus their time and effort on engaging with community members about domestic violence.
Perhaps it will give them perspective into how rampant an issue it is and how many lives it has scarred.
It may also give them a way forward, if elected, to bring potential solutions to the next legislative assembly.
A place to growInuvik Drum - Thursday, November 19, 2015
No longer homeless itself, the Emergency Warming Centre Society can resume its important work of helping those who need it most.
Last week, the society and Ground Search and Rescue organizations went before town council to ask for the use of the Berger Building, more commonly known as the former home of Inuvik Works. Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) withdrew its application and after some discussion, the building was sold to the society for $1, allowing it to get underway with preparations to open by the end of the month.
While it's good that the situation did not result in two groups scrapping over limited resources, it did highlight the needs organizations in town are facing and the help that is needed to meet them.
Community groups are always looking for more resources and more options. While a building is a major commitment, it can also lend itself to an increase in programming as well as -- obviously -- a concrete space around which to gather.
The now-defunct Inuvik Works program was brought up at both the most recent MLA candidates' forum and the municipal forum last month. People spoke of it as something that truly worked for this community and regretted it was no longer operating, all the while pointing towards the successes that are still apparent.
While there are certainly many more hurdles than just a building to getting such a program up and running again, it may be worth considering now that the program's former home is back in public discussion.
There is nothing to say that a single group could -- or should -- take on this admittedly large task. As we keep hearing, going it alone rarely results in longevity of organizations and their initiatives. When people and groups work together, however, much more can be accomplished.
Those partnerships are already in place simply by the nature of living in a small community. Often boards share members with each other as there are a limited number of people who are truly active in such things. On the one hand, this makes it easier to communicate between organizations, but on the other, it means the same people are always the ones doing the brunt of the work. While the tireless volunteer is an attractive narrative, it's tough on the ones living it.
At the candidates' forum Nov. 12, a resident asked a heartfelt question about homelessness in the community and received a round of applause from the audience and passionate answers from the candidates. Hopefully that sentiment and outpouring of concern for the people who need a second chance or a helping hand will extend to action with an existing group seeking to help those in need, or perhaps even to new initiatives with fresh ideas.
Don't miss out on political partyYellowknifer - Wednesday, November 18, 2015
It should be hardly surprising to anybody that the people who benefit most from consensus government are the MLAs elected to office.
This is why there has been zero will to change the system from within the ranks of the legislative assembly. One of the most obvious problems with consensus government is the difficulty holding individual MLAs to account for the failings of government, a point raised during an all-candidates debate at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre earlier this month.
"They (residents) are not seeing the level of accountability in the current system that they want to see," said Yellowknife Centre candidate Julie Green during the forum.
In a political party system, elected members risk getting thrown out if their party fails to deliver on their promises. In the NWT's consensus system, candidates typically don't make promises because it's unlikely they could be enacted in a system where 19 MLAs are elected as individuals, mainly by popularity and name recognition.
Governments in the NWT are not formed by voters, that's up to the MLAs when they select the premier and cabinet - by secret ballot, of course. It is therefore all but impossible for candidates to tout a comprehensive plan to constituents for the 18th legislative assembly and be held accountable for it.
Take Frame Lake candidate Roy Erasmus Sr. who wants an addictions treatment centre in Yellowknife. Can he promise one? Only if he is made health minister and gets the support of colleagues in cabinet. If he were elected to the assembly but not cabinet, he would be free to push this cause but that would be about it. This is something to which Yellowknife Centre incumbent Robert Hawkins should be able to relate. He has been pushing for a treatment centre in Yellowknife for years.
"Government after government after government continues to find new ways to defend doing nothing," said Hawkins in the legislative assembly on Nov. 5, 2012. Since then, the territory has gone from one treatment centre -- lacking a detox centre and operating at half-capacity -- to none. Kam Lake MLA David Ramsay talked up the benefits of party politics nicely back in 1999.
"There's the argument that the present system lacks vision and a leader," said the then Progressive Conservative party riding president.
It's hard to imagine him saying something like that today after 12 years in the legislative assembly - the last four in cabinet.
But if there is a problem with consensus government it's hardly the fault of incumbents that it has so long endured. There is nothing stopping people from forming their own parties and pushing their own candidates like IserveU did in last month's municipal election. The NDP ran a slate of candidates in the 1999 territorial election.
Everyone of them lost but it doesn't mean party politics cannot be more successful in the future. All people need to do is form a party or join one - for the next election of course.
Back to the drawing board for climate alarmistsEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Many folks have watched a TV or movie courtroom drama and tried to figure out the truth before a verdict was reached.
These days, it can be a lot tougher trying to figure out which professional witness is coming down on the righteous side of the facts than any of the everyday folks taking the witness stand.
It doesn't seem to matter what the topic -- both the prosecution and defence manage to produce experts in the field, (often with a whole vocabulary of letters after their names), who give diametrically opposed views on the matter.
And, just as often, both experts seem to make perfect sense.
While it's easy to shake one's head in perplexed bemusement as a Hollywood drama runs its course, in the real world the ramifications of such expert opinions are simply mindboggling.
And none so much as the ongoing battle over global warming: myth or fact?
Having called Rankin Inlet my home for the past 17 years, and having grown to have great respect, love and admiration for the North, I've spent more hours than I care to admit reading various reports, studies and opinions on what, if anything, of significance is really happening to our precious little blue planet.
Two things have resulted from my efforts. First, I have the headache to end all headaches.
Second, my humble opinion is that the concept of manmade global warming is a whole lot more manmade than the actual warming part.
Those who believe manmade global warming is very real, and a healthy chunk of our inhabitable world will be underwater one day in the all-too-soon future, truly believe what they're saying.
Ditto those who say hogwash to the whole affair.
The one thing both sides share in common is that most of the "science" involved with this doomsday scenario is based on conjecture.
And, if you're the skeptical type by nature, you probably all ready know when it comes to money being made, Chicken Little has a whole lot more to gain than the naysaying wallabies.
The wallabies got to jiggle their collective pouches in indignance earlier this month when the latest NASA report showed Antartica to be growing, not shrinking, and, instead of adding to rising sea levels, it's actually reducing them by 0.23 mm per year.
That's a major crack in the catastrophic egg Chicken Little has been trying to lay on folks for the past two decades and the naysaying wallabies know it.
NASA's study showed that from 1992 until 2001, the Antarctic's ice sheet showed a net gain of 112 billion tonnes of ice per year.
Chicken Little has been forced to admit the Antarctic's contribution to rising sea levels has been put on hold for awhile, but it has all ready begun squawking the net gain has been alarmingly reduced in recent years.
Reduced, yes. But one would be pressed to be overly alarmed by a net gain of 82 billion tons of ice per year between 2003 and 2008.
The wallabies should enjoy their moment of I-told-you-so glee while they can, as there's no doubt climate alarmists are all ready playing with a computer model in some remote tropical locale.
And they'll have us drowning in a pool of fear again in short order, just as soon as they figure out how to make the numbers work!
So you want to be an MLANorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, November 16, 2015
Forget Christmas – the territorial election period is the best season.
The great ship Northwest Territories Government is moored, incumbent MLAs must defend their records, newcomers have a chance to propose a whole new course for the territory and cabinet ministers, no longer required to show solidarity with the executive council, can share their personal views with the public.
Consider the referendum on fracking proposed by Yellowknife Centre Robert Hawkins during the 17th assembly. While regular MLAs explained their views on the subject and voted individually, cabinet voted as a block to shoot it down.
But now, because it's election period, we know how a few MLAs serving on cabinet actually feel about this initiative. Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay, Premier Bob McLeod, Transportation Minister Tom Beaulieu and Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy indicated they were against a referendum but Lands Minister Robert C. McLeod said he supports the idea. The other members of cabinet, Michael Miltenberger and Jackson Lafferty, did not respond to the questionnaire.
Of the 60 candidates running for MLA across the territory's 19 districts, 44 answered News/North's questionnaire. Readers can find answers to the questions on a few of the territory's most pressing issues in this edition of News/North.
While some MLA candidates have responded to the questionnaire with radio silence, two would-be MLAs gave reasons for not answering. Mackenzie Delta hopeful William Firth told News/North he "didn't believe in adding (his) voice to the issues until after the elections are held" and Nunakput candidate Ethel-Jean Gruben said she will not answer because she is too busy meeting face-to-face with constituents in her district.
The territory's lone expected acclamation is Monfwi's Jackson Lafferty.
He didn't acknowledge the questionnaire, a shame because not only are the people of Monfwi not able to vote for a representative but he also won't have to defend his record or his ambitions as a leader. Perhaps Lafferty will have a rival if he chooses to run in the next election and perhaps the people of Monfwi will remember this.
Now is the most crucial time for a would-be MLA to be as open and honest about his or her platform as possible because the Northwest Territories, like the rest of Canada, is a representative democracy.
If voters don't have a clear idea about where candidates stand on issues such as economic development, addiction, mental health and cost of living, they have no grounds on which to make an informed decision.
It's arguable that those candidates who neglect to fully participate in the campaign process have no business representing the constituents in their ridings.
Momentum building for University of NunavutNunavut/News North - Monday, November 16, 2015
Efforts by the territorial government to gauge the need for a university in Nunavut are not only commendable but potentially set the stage for great things to happen.
The report from the Inuit Nunangat University Workshop, which brought almost 20 experts together earlier this year, expresses a strong desire that the Government of Nunavut press forward with plans to establish a university and locate it in Iqaluit.
One interesting conclusion by the workshop participants is that the university be tailored to meet the needs of Inuit and that it be open to all Inuit from across Canada. The report also concluded that the university be housed in a free-standing building.
The question of establishing a university came up in the legislative assembly late last month, with one MLA questioning whether there are a high enough number of high school graduates to justify a post-secondary institution in Nunavut.
Grade 12 graduates currently have no choice but to leave their home communities and go south, where they often feel home sick, sorely miss country food and struggle without the support system of family and friends. Education Minister Paul Quassa called high school graduates "precious" in the legislative assembly Oct. 28.
The territory has struggled to keep young people in school and efforts to increase the number of graduates has been a priority, with some schools creating incentives to increase attendance rates. Some graduates go on to study at Nunavut Arctic College or sign up for training to work in the trades. But more options are needed for graduates wanting to pursue other fields of study.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. board chairperson Jim Nasso is a passionate proponent of creating the University of Nunavut, not only by pledging $5 million toward construction of a bricks-and-mortar facility but also by meeting privately with politicians, administrators, business leaders and ordinary people to talk about his vision which, ultimately, will empower Nunavummiut.
Nasso estimates there are 350 students from Nunavut currently attending post-secondary institutions in the south. Perhaps not all would attend a university in Nunavut. Conversely, students from across Canada and international students would likely be interested in course offerings at a university in Nunavut.
The Government of Nunavut's latest action to commission a quarter-million-dollar feasibility study by Toronto auditing firm KPMG is to look at what legal or legislative steps need to be taken, what governance and oversight structure would be needed, what types of programming would most effectively meet the needs of Nunavummiut and what physical and technological infrastructure would be needed.
Logically, the next step is to investigate further sources of funding. The $5 million from Agnico Eagle Mines is important seed money but much more support will be needed from government, corporations and other sources to make this worthwhile project a reality.
Between the workshop, the feasibility study and support from many individuals, we're impressed with the significant momentum that is building toward the establishment of a university in Nunavut.
