Millions in CanNor funding left unused, says N.W.T. MP Bevington
Northwest Territories MP Dennis Bevington is questioning the Conservative government's use of Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) funding, saying that $14 million in potential funding was left untouched between 2010 and 2014.
The unused funding includes $3.5 million in the 2013-2014 budget, according to a statement released Thursday by the federal NDP, the party which Bevington represents.
"We've noticed that, out of the estimates and the expenditures reports from the House of Commons, that we haven't been spending all of the resources that CanNor has in place for the people of the North," says Bevington. "And in fact, over the last four years, we've seen sometimes 15 per cent of the resources returned to the federal coffer.
"There hasn't been any discussion about this. And it's a pattern that's fitting in with other economic development agencies around the country, whether it's the Atlantic provinces or in the Western provinces."
CanNor was established in 2009 as a way to spur economic development in the three territories.
The $52 million agency, as well as Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, the minister responsible for CanNor, came under fire in May of 2014 following an auditor general's report that stated it "is not adequately monitoring the contributions it pays out," and "doesn’t know whether the funding they are providing is making a difference to economic development in the North."
The same report found as of August 2013 CanNor had more employees in its Ottawa liaison office than at its headquarters in Iqaluit.
When asked what an NDP government would do with the untouched CanNor funding, Bevington suggested subsidizing high energy costs in Northern communities, as well as investing in building local economies.
"There's a lot of work that can take place," he says. "It's not all about large resource development, it's about building small businesses and enterprises for communities where employment is non-existent, or very small. Those are things that really need attention right now."
In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson from Leona Aglukkaq's office said Bevington's statement "misrepresents the economic situation in the North." The email went on to say the agency had invested more than $208 million in 950 projects since its creation, but it did not address Bevington's specific allegations.
