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NWT regime set to lock horns New premier promises tougher stance to give territory greater control over resource development, taxes; likes ‘no-prisoners’ style Gary Park For Petroleum News
The Northwest Territories has installed a new government that is ready to tackle a set of old issues, led by a perennial effort to wrest control of its natural resources from the Canadian government.
Newly elected Premier Floyd Roland wasted no time sending a message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that it is time the federal government took seriously the NWT’s determination to regulate and directly benefit from resource development.
The two previous NWT governments have made only marginal gains in their effort to assume powers similar to Canada’s 10 provinces, which own and regulate their resources, collecting royalties and taxes.
But the Canadian government controls most land and resources within the NWT and is the major source of revenue for the territory.
Inspiration from Newfoundland Roland, 46, said he draws some inspiration from the take-no-prisoners approach of Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who has engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Big Oil and the Harper government.
He said his message to Ottawa will be that the NWT “needs to be a partner … now give us some authority.”
Joe Handley, Roland’s predecessor, left office earlier this year regretting his inability to conclude an agreement with Ottawa giving the NWT the power to control the pace of development and “the fiscal capacity for our territory to reinvest in the economy.”
Handley said federal control over development and the disbursement of royalties and taxes is “not sustainable” and required a broad devolution and revenue-sharing deal that would put resource management in NWT hands.
He issued a plain warning that a failure by Ottawa to change the existing arrangement could prompt his government to block fiscal terms for the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline.
Roland is demanding action on Harper’s promise earlier this month to develop a “northern strategy” to devolve powers and promote economic and social development.
How aggressive the NWT is will depend on what measures flow from Harper’s pledge, he said.
Concern over oil sands impact Roland won the leadership in a secret ballot among members of the legislature, defeating Michael Miltenberger.
But he promptly named Miltenberger as deputy premier as well as environment and natural resources minister in a six-person cabinet.
Miltenberger was ousted from cabinet a year ago when he made a threatening gestures and comments towards another member of the legislature.
One of the top items on Miltenberger’s list is likely to be a growing concern about the impact of oil sands development on water levels in the Slave River, which flows from northern Alberta to Great Slave Lake in the NWT. He said last November that the NWT may have to intervene directly in every oil sands expansion application.
“We’re going to end up forming alliances with the aboriginal governments to protect the water and that may require court action,” he said. “We cannot count on the federal government to look after our interests.”
The NWT and Alberta have been working on a bilateral water agreement, but that is not expected to be completed this decade.
Miltenberger said water is more important to the NWT than oil, natural gas, diamonds or uranium, arguing that water levels will only get worse as the climate changes and permafrost melts.
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