November 12, 1998

Quebec Liberals promise to alleviate Nunavik housing crisis

The native affairs critic for Quebec's Liberal Party says that, if elected, his party will act immediately to solve Nunavik's housing shortage.

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

MONTREAL — The native affairs critic for Quebec's Liberal Party said change is on the way if his party forms a new government on December 1.

Geoff Kelley, who represents the riding of Jacques-Cartier in Quebec's national assembly, said that a Liberal government would move to alleviate Nunavik's housing crisis immediately following a win on November 30.

Kelley's riding includes many West Island communities that are home to Inuit organizations, such as Taqramiut Nipingat Inc..

"A Liberal government would be more sensitive to the diversity of the province's population," he said. "The protection and promotion of native languages, that's very important."

Kelley said that sovereignty wouldn't be an issue during a Liberal government's term because less time would be spent "referending"— and more time would be spent governing.

As a result, debate around Nunavik's place within Quebec would become less problematic.

"We think that a lot of the talk about the boundaries in the context of a separation, on an independent Quebec. I don't get the feeling that the Inuit want to leave Canada," he said.

In his interview with the Nunatsiaq News, Kelley gave assurances that a Liberal government would continue to give priority to self-government for Nunavik.

According to Kelly, decisions affecting the region would increasingly be transferred from Quebec City to Nunavik.

"As much as we can, we want to decentralize the decision-making to the people who know best," said Kelley.

The Liberals would also consider how a regional Nunavik government, with greater powers, could become self-financing. Kelley suggested that relying solely on block-funding from the Quebec government for money could have disadvantages.

"If funding decisions are taken elsewhere, indirectly their governing decisions are taken from them, too," he said.

Revenue sharing from new resource development projects could give Nunavik's government more economic independence, without reopening the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

The Liberals also want to boost business by cutting taxes and getting the government out of crown corporations.

Kelley said that a reduced role for government wouldn't mean cut-backs in such government-funded assistance programs as welfare in an economically depressed region like Nunavik.

"It's not a forced process," he said. "It's more, what can we do sector by sector, region by region, to get people back to work."

Kelley, who has visited Nunavik, said he's aware that the distance between the region and Quebec City often leads to indifference in Southern-based bureaucrats.

That's why he'd like to see parliamentary commissions hold meetings in Nunavik at least once each year.

Kelley is slated to accompany the Liberal candidate, Claude-Eric Gagné, when he campaigns in Nunavik.

The Liberal Party leader, Jean Charest, and the leaders of the two other main parties, Lucien Bouchard from the Parti Québécois and Mario Dumont from the Action Démocratique, will meet in a live televised debate beginning at 7 pm on Thursday, November 17.

Their debate will be broadcast with simultaneous English translation on the Global television network.