Tapardjuk resigns from Nunavut cabinet

Nunavut MLA Louis Tapardjuk has stepped down from cabinet, in advance of a leadership reviewin which members plan to grill the government about what they have accomplished so far.

Premier Eva Aariak has accepted Tapardjuk's resignation from cabinet, according to a release issued Thursday afternoon.

Tapardjukwill continue to serve as the MLA for Amittuq, which includes the communities of Igloolik and Hall Beach. It will mark the first time Tapardjuk, who has beenin office since 2004,is not in cabinet.

"I've thought about it over the month and, of course, my constituents are missing me; so is my family,"Tapardjuk told CBC News outside the legislature on Thursday.

"I'm going to be around," he added. "I've never been a regular MLA before, so I'd like to be on the other side and see how that feels."

Tapardjuk was most recently minister of culture, language, elders and youth, as the minister of languages, and the minister responsible for the Utility Rates Review Council.

Worked on language laws

He has been credited as being the driving force behind Nunavut's current language laws, including the Official Languages Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act. Both laws were passed in 2008.

But in a passionate statement he made inside the legislature, Tapardjuk said he wants to concentrate on his constituents' concerns and issues something he said he wasn't able to do as a cabinet minister.

Tapardjuk alsosaid he felt he would have beentargeted at a leadership review that regular MLAs plan to hold after the current session wraps up.

The regular, or non-cabinet, MLAs say they want a leadership review so they can ask Aariak and her cabinet ministers tough questions about what they have achieved since they were elected in 2008.

"This is the leadership forum, and I thought this would be an opportunity for the regular members to find a replacement for me,"Tapardjuk said.

Tapardjuk's resignation from cabinet takes effect at the close of session. Aariak will then take on his ministerial portfolios, according to the release.