Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 20/05) - The Northwest Territories faces an embarrassment of sudden riches - $100 million or more to spend on everything from housing and health to education and economic development.

Most of the money will go to mitigating impacts in communities on the path of the Mackenzie Gas Project.

But $40 million - $13.3 million annually for the next three years - will answer wishes brought to the Northern Strategy, a program Prime Minister Paul Martin unveiled last December.

Ottawa and the territories have spent an estimated $1 million to develop and promote Northern Strategy, but response was lukewarm at best.

People in the three territories returned just 276 questionnaires intended to capture their ideas on the subject - just 73 from the Northwest Territories. A report on the findings is due to be released this month.

Premier Joe Handley continues to consult with MLAs and community leaders, "looking for projects that will make a difference in people's lives."

At the beginning of the process, Handley was open to any suggestion, but, in the end, how the money is spent "will be a cabinet decision."

News/North ran its own survey.

Reporters and editors Chris Hunsley, Paul Bickford, Derek Neary, Mike W. Bryant and Jack Danylchuk spoke with residents from Fort Smith to the Mackenzie Delta, Yellowknife to Fort Simpson.