Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 11/01) - Training in trades, including plumbers, electricians and carpenters, will be the door-opener for Northerners, says Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew

"People who are educated in trades get hired more quickly," she said.

A packed room at the Explorer Hotel, last Friday, heard Blondin-Andrew talk about the North's role in pulling down the country's placing to third on the United Nation's standard of living scale and the role trades training would have in battling aboriginal poverty.

Blondin-Andrew also spoke about the Canadian government's role in pipeline negotiations. Although the federal government claims to remain neutral, the prime minister has publicly supported the development of Arctic gas and strengths of the Mackenzie Valley corridor.

She said the route is the shortest and cheapest with a right of way existing from Norman Wells to Alberta.

The route also passes through Canadian deposits, allowing for more development, leaving the smallest environmental footprint and giving Prudoe Bay gas the shortest route to commercial markets. Currently, Prudhoe Bay, located offshore Alaska in the Beaufort Sea, has a pipeline to Valdez where crude oil is shipped to the United States.

Blondin-Andrew said an alternative route through Alaska and southern Yukon would delay further Canadian development.