Nunavut MLAs prepare for leadership review

Nunavut's politicians are gearing up for a midterm leadership review in which Premier Eva Aariak and her cabinet are expected to face tough questions about what they have accomplished, and possibly even lose their cabinet positions.

Cabinet and regular MLAs met behind closed doors Tuesday morning to finalize the format of the leadership review, which will begin Wednesday morning at the legislative assembly in Iqaluit.

Aariak and her cabinet are expected to defend their accomplishments over the past two years thatthey have been in government. MLAs will then be given an opportunity to vote for changes in cabinet, including the premier's position.

Aariak launched an early defence of her government's performance as the fall legislative session wound down on Monday.

"We are making progress," Aariak said in the legislature. "We have tabled a suicide prevention strategy, we are delivering the much-asked-for GLO [government liaison officer] positions in every community, we have launched a poverty reduction strategy. We are answering our phones."

Midterm leadership reviews are regularly scheduled events, but this particular review has been pushed up from February 2011 amid MLAs' concerns about $110 million in cost overruns at the Nunavut Housing Corp.

Premier defends record

Aariak and her cabinet has faced criticism in the legislature over the past two weeks, notably by Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik, who was Nunavut's premier from 1999 until Aariak defeated him at the 2008 leadership forum.

Okalik delivered a stinging rebuke of Aariak's performance on Oct. 20, claiming that most of what her government says it has accomplished had started while he was premier.

But Aariak defended her government's record on Monday, saying most of the problems her cabinet is dealing with including the housing corporation's financial woes were inherited from the previous government.

"All of us here adopted massive and systemic problems from the past administration," Aariak said in the legislature.

Aariak also said her government has been saddled with unworkable laws such as the Family Abuse Intervention Act.

"We are having to return to square one with certain pieces of legislation that were passed too quickly in the previous governments and without enough careful planning," she said.

In terms of accomplishments, Aariak pointed to the suicide prevention strategy, which was tabled last week, along with promised action on devolution and ongoing work on poverty reduction. As well, she said her government has changed the cultureat Nunavut's public service.

"Under this government, our employees are not afraid to speak their mind," Aariak said.

Speaking to reporters, Okalik said he stands by his criticism of Aariak, but he downplayed suggestions that he wants his former job back.

"Look, you can blame the past for all your problems," Okalik said."But at the same time, we accomplished some things."