Expanding definition of military spending in North is a good idea: Nunavut MP
All infrastructure projects across North should count towards defence, urges Canadian Federation of Municipalities in report
Nunavut’s member of Parliament likes the idea of expanding the definition of defence spending to include all community infrastructure projects, and plans to share it with her committee colleagues.
Lori Idlout was referring to a recently produced report from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities about the infrastructure gap between the country’s northern and southern regions.
She called it a “great report” that “accurately reflects what the needs are in the North” in an interview Friday with Nunatsiaq News.
Idlout said she plans to share the federation’s recommendations with her parliamentary colleagues on the standing committees on national defence and Indigenous and northern affairs.
The federation is calling on the federal government to define all northern municipal infrastructure as dual use, which means projects traditionally thought of as civilian could count towards defence spending.
It’s an opportunity to take advantage of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s commitment to allocate five per cent of Canada’s GDP to defence spending by 2035, the report says. This would work out to $81.8 billion based on the country’s GDP from the last fiscal year.
Idlout said the report’s authors expressed “all the same things that I’ve been saying all along since I’ve become a parliamentarian about just how much the needs are in Nunavut and the North.”
She said she also agrees with the federation’s call for a municipal infrastructure fund that would mitigate the high cost of construction in the North.
The report cites Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s 2020 finding that a $75.1-billion infrastructure gap exists across Inuit Nunangat. It also calls for $10.6 billion for the Yukon and $17.8 billion in spending for the Northwest Territories.
Idlout said these numbers are likely higher due to inflation.
It’s unclear what Nunavut’s infrastructure gap is. Nunatsiaq News was unable to obtain an estimate from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Nunavut Association of Municipalities or the territorial government.
Federation spokesperson Olivier Pilon said the federation is planning “ongoing meetings with [Idlout] and with her officials” about the report’s recommendations.
Located in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, Nunatsiaq News is dedicated to covering affairs in Nunavut and the Nunavik territory of Quebec since 1973. It has been a partner to ArcticToday and its predecessors since 2016.
