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Road to Canada’s Arctic ‘top priority’ NWT premier wants 500-mile Mackenzie Valley to Arctic Ocean highway; infrastructure needed for diamond mines, gas project Gary Park For Petroleum News
Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley has made construction of a highway along the Mackenzie Valley to the Arctic Ocean his government’s leading priority.
The 500-mile project, estimated to cost C$840 million, would improve the quality of life for isolated communities, boost tourism and reduce the cost of resource exploration and development, he told a Meet the North conference in Edmonton.
“All Canadians benefit from increased investment in our infrastructure and our transportation system needs to adequately handle development and serve the needs of the communities,” Handley said.
As one example of the need for a highway, he said the NWT’s diamond mines were unable to get 60 percent of supplies delivered to their sites over the winter because warm weather shortened the ice-road season.
Handley said potential new investors might think twice if the infrastructure remains shaky.
In particular, he said the Mackenzie Gas Project will be the cornerstone of the NWT’s future and will make it a net contributor to the Canadian economy.
The NWT has only 1,200 miles of roads over 330,000 square miles, but the existing system stops 500 miles short of the Arctic Ocean.
The original Highway to the Arctic was started in 1972 and stopped in 1977 when a 10-year federal moratorium was imposed on oil and gas development in the Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea.
NWT would fund from resource royalties Handley said the NWT is prepared to fund the highway from a new resource royalty deal with the Canadian government that he indicated is only months away.
He said the new Canadian government has taken a new approach to negotiating the royalty pact, without which the NWT has no hope of paying for new roads and infrastructure.
The highway would almost parallel the Mackenzie pipeline right of way.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein told the conference he supports any move by the federal government to give the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut greater control over their resources.
He said it is important that the benefits of a resource boom are shared by everybody and when the North benefits the rest of Canada benefits.
Currently, Ottawa receives all royalties from northern mining and oil and gas developments, but the territorial premiers have been lobbying for years to gain the same control over their resources as Canada’s 10 provincial governments.
Handley said he is hopeful Ottawa will speed up a transfer of power, which will enable his government to reinvest royalties into economic diversification.
Kakfwi: federal government bungles development Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, who is eager to promote gas exploration in the High Arctic islands said he is eager to sign a devolution and natural resources agreement with Ottawa.
He said investors want “certainty and confidence and we want them to deal directly with us rather than the layers of federal bureaucracy.”
Meanwhile, former NWT Premier Stephen Kakfwi told a delegation of Canadian Members of Parliament that the federal government is bungling oil, gas and mineral development in the North by issuing permits for areas northerners are trying to protect.
He said the Department of Northern and Indian Affairs is approving industrial leases and permits at a record pace, allowing exploration in sacred areas and traditional hunting grounds. Kakfwi said northerners should have the power to decide how land should be used and shared and that requires urgent action on a federal strategy.
Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell pledged to act on the concerns, saying he will make sure the issue is at the top of the government’s agenda.
Kakfwi emphasized he is not anti-development, but is committed to finding a balance between development and traditional use of the land.
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