Nunatsiavut Government has finely broken the silence on the mistakes [balls up] made with the community voter’s lists and rolls which resulted in the recent cancellation of community government elections.

CBC Labrador Mornings Cindy Wall interviewed NG first minister on the issue yesterday. The first minister sounds embarrassed and sort of apologetic while at the same time covering up for others IMO.

The first minister clearly is blaming the smallness of the NG bureaucracy and the newness of the government for this misstep. I am sure there are many who would challenge the first minister on his hypothesis.

What with the decade or so getting ready for self government then the couple of years or so of transitionional government one could be forgiven in thinking maybe things like voters rolls and such would have been nutted down tight before any elections took place four years ago. Then there is the size of the civil service, some think it quite large given the number of constituents. Then we won’t mention the many other missteps that are not out in the public air waves.

To be fair to the present first minister I would hypothesis that the missteps took place under the previous

first minister, who unfortunately is now the AngajukKok for Nain.

Following on with the air fares and there high costs from the other day I have come up with the following:

Comparable distances of flights and fares within Labrador and those in Nunavik [Northern Quebec]. All distances are approximate and as the crow fly’s and all fares are return tickets available on airline web sites.

Nain to Goose Bay [368K] $856.94 on Air Labrador.

Kuujjuaq to Kangiqsujuaq [628K] $458.27 on Air Inuit.

Kuujjuaq to Scheferville [378K] $763.04 on Air Inuit.

Now some fares for trips Goose Bay out of Labrador and comparisons:

Goose Bay to Montreal via Wabush [1,393K] $1,651.21 on Provincial Airlines.

Kuujjuaq to Montreal [1450K] $1.938.39 in First Air.

Kuujjuaq to Montreal with Air Inuit $$2,383.50

St.John’s to Kuujjuaq via Montreal [3,069K] $2,532.61 on First Air.

Goose Bay to St. John’s [833K]; anywhere from $776.59 to $1,477.19 on provincial Airlines depending on when you fly and what type of class you choose.

Goose Bay to ST. John’s; lowest fare $1,005.98 with a myriad of fares upward depending on the class you choose, the routing, via Gander, Direct of via Halifax on Air Canada.

The above is a cursory look at some of the airfares available within and without Labrador. I am sure someone with more policy wankerism and data research and analysis experience could do a bang up job.

I do get the feeling though that all it will show is that fares within and without Labrador are comparable or lower than markets with similar populations and flight distances. .