Nunavut Legislative Assembly returns today for winter sitting

MLAs return toNunavut'sLegislative Assembly Wednesday forthewinter sitting, with the2016/17 operations andmaintenancebudget set tobe tabled Thursday by Finance Minister Keith Peterson.

The winter sitting is the legislature's longest of the year and is expected to finish around March 17.

PaulQuassa,Nunavut'sGovernmentHouse Leader and Minister of Education, saida number of bills will be introduced over the coming weeks, lookingtoupdate some key territorialacts.

"We're trying to modernize all these acts because as you probably know, a lot of these acts are carried over from theprevious N.W.T. days," he said.

The Public Health Act and the Travel and Tourism Act are slated for an update following reviews, said Quassa.Anamendment to the LandTitlesAct could also change, pending the results of a May 9 referendum.

New ministers

The legislature will feature some old faces in new roles and a new member set to be sworn in.

EmilianoQirngnuqofKugaarukis the new MLA for theNetsilikconstituency after winning abyelectionearlier in February.

Iqaluit-TasilukMLA GeorgeHickeswill take his seat as the minister responsible for theQulliqEnergy Corporation and theNunavutHousing Corporation andArviatSouth MLA JoeSavikataaqwill serve as the minister responsible forCommunity and Government Servicesfollowing a leadership review last fall.

The shake up in the legislature will also affect seating arrangements.

"With the appointment of two new ministers to the cabinet, the premier has the right to place the ministers," said JohnQuirke,clerk for theNunavutLegislative Assembly.

"So there has to be some changes on where ministers are going to be sitting in this sitting."