Lorne Kusugak, the finance minister for the Government of Nunavut, tabling the territory's 2022-2023 budget at the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Nunavut Housing Corporation's capital spending is up by $3 million dollars from last year for a total of $51.5 million in this budget. Of that money, $21 million is allocated to building new public housing units, and $6 million is allocated to Government of Nunavut staff housing units. This year's budget has an estimated operational surplus of $40 million. The surplus is a result of lower COVID-19 spending and an increase in taxes at about 5 per cent.Kusugak said the surplus leaves room to spend more money on housing as needed.
During the last fiscal year the government did not need to use the full contingency fund to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks, which helped lead to the surplus.
I love that Nunavut has a non-partisan, consensus government. All MLAs are independents. When it comes to government, this is a consummation devoutly to be wished!