Nunavut government spent nearly $900K to subsidize daycares amid pandemic
Premier says territory's funding ends Tuesday and that federal programs can be used instead
The Nunavut government says it spent nearly $900,000 to help subsidize daycares in the territory since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Premier Joe Savikataaq announced this during the government's scheduled news conference Monday afternoon, in which officials give an update on COVID-19 in the territory.
Savikataaq said that funding will end Tuesday, and that people can now seek help from federal funding programs such as the Canada Wage Subsidy Program or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
"This was not budgeted," said Savikataaq at the news conference.
"It's money that we didn't have that we are spending. There are federal programs that are available for the daycares that [people] could access."
Finance Minister George Hickes said at the news conference that if the territory kept funding daycares, it could mean that those businesses would not be eligible for those federal programs.
The live broadcast was streamed on this page, as well on CBC North's Facebook.
Missed the live press conference? Watch it here:
On Friday, the government announced during its press conference that all Nunavut schools are closed to students for the rest of the school year due to the pandemic.
As of Monday, the territorial government reported zero cases of COVID-19. It has conducted 453 tests, with 201 of those reporting negative.
Meanwhile, Nunavut's neighbouring territory N.W.T. announced that of its five confirmed COVID-19 cases, zero were still active as of Monday.