What I asked

I love the AFN for giving me a chance to ask some good questions, and for being all around generally good people.

Also, I am going into the business of concrete steps, as almost question asked for them. Driscoll's Concrete Steps, coming soon to a location near you.

Almost four fours in the building, three for the debate, I have a lot of tape to look at, so with no further delay, here are the qusetions I asked, and of whom:

Iqaluit West: Sheutiapik and Okalik

1 – One of Premier Okalik’s platform planks is taking credit for Nunavut’s “successful” economy. According to Statistics Canada, the average income for a family in Nunavut is 49,270, the Canadian average is 63,866. StatsCan also said that in 2005, two-thirds of Nunavummiut reported not having enough food during the previous year due to lack of money, nearly four times the national average. My question, do you think Nunavut’s economy is doing well, and what can be done to help those who do not benefit from it?

Iqaluit Center: Sageatook, Redfern and Tootoo

2 – The Auditor General of Canada said this of Nunavut government, “"We found numerous cases of non-compliance with Nunavut's financial laws, including seeking the legislative assembly's approval to spend money after it had already been spent.” She also said , “"Current financial management is weak and fragile. Six years after Nunavut's creation, I am surprised how slowly financial management has improved." The report even included a section about the GN titled “A History of Breaking the Rules.” What would you do to make the Government of Nunavut meet it’s basic, legislated, fiscal responsibility to Nunavummiut?

Iqaluit East: Peter, Williams and Ariak

3 – Iqaluit is growing rapidly. Overcrowding is a huge issue here in the capital. So is crime, between the now frequent notices from RCMP of untreated violent criminals choosing to live in Iqaluit, to the Nunavut wide fact that a person is 12 times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault here, compared to the rest of the Canada. The RCMP are paid to police this community, yet haven’t delivered a report to City Council in eight months. Since you are all running to represent Iqaluit, what concrete steps would you take to make Iqaluit safer, healthier and all in all a better place to live?