Andrew Raven & Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 20/05) - The federal government committed $500 million in social spending Monday to jump-start the stalled Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline.

During the next decade, the money will flow into a trust fund for the roughly 15 communities along the pipeline route.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew: "... "there is enough so everyone can get something. Not everyone is going to be involved in the pipeline." -

The funding is earmarked to help deal with the social impacts of the $7 billion mega-project, which would siphon gas from the Beaufort Delta into northern Alberta.

"This is a monumental piece of work (but) there is still more work to do," Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew told members of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, Tuesday.

"There is enough so everyone can get something. Not everyone is going to be involved in the pipeline," said Blondin-Andrew.

"We need to also develop eco-tourism, cultural pursuits and information technology."

The funding was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, and comes after intense lobbying by the territorial government and NWT First Nations.

It removes one of the main barriers to the pipeline, which has been stalled since April when the four major oil companies behind the project suspended preliminary geo-technical work.

The announcement comes a week after the federal government agreed to pay the Dehcho First Nations $31.5 million to withdraw two lawsuits that threatened to stall the pipeline.

"We certainly see this as a positive development," Imperial Oil spokesperson Hart Searle said Tuesday. "We hope this agreement will be of assistance to us."

While federal officials said the agreement was not done to appease pipeline companies, Blondin-Andrew said they influenced the final settlement.

"Industry said government had to take corporate leadership - we did that with this socio-economic agreement," she continued.

Ken Moreau, a spokesperson for McLellan, said the government has a responsibility to ensure the pipeline does not compromise communities in its path.

"A project this large and complex is bound to have impacts. We would be negligent if we did not realize that," Moreau said.

While the details of how the money will be paid have not been worked out, each of the regions along the pipeline route - Inuvialuit, Gwich'in, Sahtu and Dehcho - are expected to get separate accounts within the trust fund.

The money will be administered by the territorial government and aboriginal groups, with the latter having substantial input over where the money will go, Moreau said.

Premier Joe Handley called the settlement "good news" and said the deal was in-line with what territorial government officials were asking for earlier this year.

"This is a huge amount of money," he said. "It will help address the social and economic needs of the communities."

The communities could still be several months away from seeing any money. The settlement must be approved by parliament, which resumes sitting in late September.