According to a report, Nunavut is a gold mine for southern businesses

Key Takeaways:

• Nunavut spending generates between 4,000 and 9,000 jobs in southern Canada.
• They claim that Nunavut is spurring growth in various industries in the South.

The Nunavut Association of Municipalities is working hard to dispel the myth that Nunavut is nothing more than a deplete on the federal government’s coffers.

On May 2, NAM President Keith Peterson presented a newly released report, “The Economic Impacts of Nunavut on the Rest of Canada,” to Parliament Hill’s finance committee. The finance committee is consulting with organizations ahead of the federal budget.

The report, which NAM commissioned from the Toronto-based consulting firm KPMG, demonstrates what Nunavummiut has long known: they purchase most of their goods also services from southern-based businesses.

With few factories or primary industries in Nunavut, stores, businesses, or residents must rely on the South for everything from new vegetables to furniture and construction supplies.

According to the report, the federal government provided Nunavut with $601 million under the formula financing agreement in 1999. However, the money did not simply stay in the territory.

On the other hand, Nunavut spent $424 million on goods and services in the South. In addition, Nunavut imported $450 million in goods and services from southern Canada the following year.

“These figures show that Nunavut is not a drain on the federal government,” Peterson told members of the finance committee. When Nunavut complains about a lack of housing, health-care facilities, and key infrastructure such as paved roads and proper water and sewer lines, the usual response, according to Peterson, is that Nunavut already receives more than its honest share of the money.

According to Peterson, Nunavut is not only underfunded by the federal government but is also struggling to make ends meet. “Communities require water treatment plants, desalination plants, roads, and schools — all of which the South already has,” he said.

Thanks to its new report, NAM now has concrete evidence that money is not just flowing one way into Nunavut. According to Peterson, the information can go a long way toward convincing the federal government to invest more not less money in the territory.

Source: nunatsiaq News

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