Nunavut cabinet stays at eight members as Tom Sammurtok quits – Nunatsiaq News
May 06, 2015
Rankin Inlet North MLA faces drunk driving charges
Tom Sammurtok, the MLA for Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet, quit cabinet May 5, but for now, MLAs won’t add another cabinet member, said a Nunavut legislative assembly news release issued late in the afternoon May 6.
Premier Peter Taptuna stripped Sammurtok of all cabinet duties this past April 14, after Sammurtok had been charged on April 13 with impaired driving and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Sammurtok, who had served as minister of Community and Government Services, had until yesterday sat in cabinet as minister without portfolio, qualifying him for the big extra salary payment that goes to cabinet ministers.
All MLAs, as of October 2013, received a basic indemnity of at least $97,355,000 per year. On top of that, cabinet ministers receive an annual ministerial indemnity that stood at $76,422,000 a year in 2012-13 and is likely more now.
