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Power transfer to NWT under way
Gary Park For Petroleum News
The Canadian government has unveiled the legislation needed to give the Northwest Territories control over its natural resource development — a transfer scheduled to be implemented on April 1 and described by NWT Premier Bob McLeod as “historic.”
The C$65 million in annual royalties generated by energy and mineral projects will also be relinquished by the federal government.
McLeod said the devolution will transform the NWT economy and “provide for substantial jobs and opportunities coupled with an efficient and effective regulatory framework.”
But there is far from universal support within the NWT for plans to streamline and standardize under a single board the processing of new projects, ending what has been called a ponderous and needlessly complex regime.
Streamlining concerns Aboriginal governments from the Gwich’in in the north to the Tlicho in the south say that eliminating boards which have been part of self-government agreements violates the spirit of those pacts, although federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt disagrees.
“The restructured board is in full compliance with the settled land-claim agreements and will continue the co-managed approach,” he told reporters.
He said that folding the regional boards into a single board was always seen as part of the devolution process.
“Maintaining the current structure would add to the complexity, uncertainty and cost of the regulatory regime” if it became part of future settlement,” Valcourt said.
Approval times similar A 2010 audit of the NWT, conducted for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, determined that approval times for land and water permits in the NWT were similar to other jurisdictions in Canada, but estimated that half of the approval process was taken up waiting for a final decision from the federal cabinet, with some projects such as the Mackenzie Gas Project forced to wait years after northern regulators made their recommendation.
The audit also found that approvals in areas with unsettled land claims took two or three times as long as in settled regions.
In addition to royalties, the Canadian government will provide another C$65 million to the NWT to compensate for the cost of its regulatory responsibilities, including the salaries of federal officials who will work for the NWT.
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