Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 28/00) - Before developing a strategy to get there, you have to decide where you are going.

Common Ground, an economic development strategy released Monday, gives an account of where the NWT should be 25 years from now.

The vision of the 17-member panel that produced the document includes a highway down the Mackenzie Valley, running from the Beaufort/Delta to the Alberta border.

"The road system is a boon to our economy," predicts the report. "It increases the flow of tourists into our communities, reduces costs and fosters inter-community trade resulting in our increased dependence on one another."

The strategy has been in the works for a year.

Established by then Economic Development Minister Stephen Kakfwi, the 17-member panel that produced it was co-chaired by Gwich'in Tribal Council president Richard Nerysoo and Deton Cho Corporation president Darryl Beaulieu.

Common Ground includes 58 recommendations the panel believes will help the government move toward its vision of a newer, healthier and better-educated North.

Asked how confident he was that the strategy would be acted upon by government, Beaulieu acknowledged there are a number of similar documents that were developed and never acted upon by government.

"That's one of the reasons we wanted to sit down a year from now and take out the measuring stick and measure what they've done," he said.

Economic Development Minister Joe Handley has agreed to reconvene the panel in a year to review progress on the report.

NWT Metis Nation representative Jake Heron was "optimistic" the government would act on the recommendations.

"The proof in the pudding will be whether or not a year from now some of the things that we've recommended get put into play," said Heron.

"There seems to be in this leadership a strong desire to work with the aboriginal leadership, and I think that is key to any kind of future development for the North."

Handley said government had already drawn on the strategy in producing a draft non-renewable resources strategy it presented to the federal government earlier this year.

Handley said he intends to present a GNWT Economic Action plan based on Common Ground during the fall sitting of the legislative assembly.