Nunavut premier, cabinet survive confidence vote

Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak and her cabinet have survived a leadership review in which MLAs voted to maintain confidence in the two-year-old government.

Aariak and her six cabinet ministers spent Wednesday fighting for their jobs in a midterm leadership review that came amid MLAs' concerns about their ability to lead.

The review, which took place at the Nunavut legislature in Iqaluit, concluded with a secret-ballot vote in which MLAs decided to keep confidence in Aariak — Nunavut's second premier and Canada's only female premier — and the cabinet members:

• Tagak Curley, minister of health and social services, minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corp. and government house leader.
• Lorne Kusugak, minister of community and government services and minister of energy.
• Keith Peterson, minister of finance and justice.
• Daniel Shewchuk, minister of environment and human resources.
• Peter Taptuna, deputy premier and minister of economic development and transportation.
• Hunter Tootoo, minister of education and minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.

Because the voting was conducted by secret ballot, the number of votes was not revealed, and the ballots were destroyed.

First real confidence test

While a midterm review is an ordinary process, one that has been carried out in Nunavut's first two governments, Wednesday's review marks the first time MLAs had seriously questioned the confidence of the premier and cabinet.

"They never went to the secret-ballot process. This is the first time, this is something new," Nunavut legislative clerk John Quirke told CBC News prior to Wednesday's review.

The secret ballot was needed because some MLAs have expressed doubts that Aariak has lived up to her promises as Nunavut's premier.

Members have been outraged with the government's handling of an unprecedented $110 million in cost overruns incurred by the Nunavut Housing Corp., the territory's public housing agency.

Aariak, an Iqaluit businesswoman who served as Nunavut's languages commissioner, was chosen among her fellow MLAs as premier in November 2008, weeks after she was elected as the new MLA for Iqaluit East.

Under Nunavut's consensus-based model of government, in which there are no political parties, MLAs select their premier and cabinet members among their peers shortly after they are elected. Those that are not chosen to be in cabinet are known as regular members.

Outlined achievements

On Wednesday morning, Aariak offered a 20-minute defence of her first two years as premier, saying she came to the job with little political experience but has worked steadily toward her goals. She then fielded questions from MLAs, each of whom were allowed to ask up to five questions.

Aariak spoke extensively about her government's achievements to date, including the completion last year of a "report card" on the Nunavut government's performance, followed by the release of Tamapta, the government’s vision for Nunavut for the next 20 years, and her government's action plan for the current term.

The cabinet ministers also gave their own 10-minute speeches and took questions from MLAs before voting began around 5:30 p.m. ET.

Nunavut's cabinet already has one vacancy after Louis Tapardjuk announced his resignation from cabinet last week. He remains the MLA for Amittuq, but he is now a regular member as opposed to a cabinet minister.

Tapardjuk was noticeably absent from the legislature on Wednesday. Tununiq MLA James Arvaluk, another regular member, was also absent because of illness.