Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 14/05) - A two-day Northern transportation conference in Yellowknife focused on the challenges and opportunities of living and working in the three territories.

Barge services, such as the unloading of this one in Rankin Inlet, were one topic of conversation at a Northern transportation conference in Yellowknife last week. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The proposed Iqaluit port, the Manitoba-Kivalliq road, the Bathurst Inlet road and port and the extension of the Mackenzie highway to Tuktoyaktuk were just some of the issues discussed.

Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley addressed the audience, emphasizing the need for a resource revenue sharing agreement with Ottawa.

"We have to take a partnership approach. We are tired of going to Ottawa with our hands out," he said. "The North has come of age and is important to Canada as a whole."

The traditional east-west transport systems now have to include north-south components, he added.

"The huge wealth onshore and offshore can be better explored by building a road to Tuktoyaktuk," he continued. "A lot has changed since previous feasibility studies deemed the project uneconomical.

"If the prime minister wants to leave a legacy, that is it."

Audience members from the south were shocked to hear Cece McCauley describe the high cost of living in Norman Wells and other communities, due in large part to transportation issues.

"It can't go on," she said, while addressing panel members.

Alberta receives 25 per cent of royalty revenues, said Dr. Lyle Oberg, Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation.

"If the NWT had that, the road to Tuk wouldn't look so far away," he said.

The need for all communities in Nunavut to have a port and/or harbour was expressed by Alex Campbell, deputy minister of economic development and transportation for the government of Nunavut.

With only 100 km of roads in all of Nunavut, reliance on water access and air travel is great, he said.

That is why upgrades and relocation at six Nunavut airports are so important, he said.

"We are only 30,000 people but we didn't ask to be broken into communities," he said, emphasizing that government support is needed to obtain the necessary infrastructure.

And that is what Charlie Lyall would like to see.

He is taking the Bathurst Inlet road and port project to the government of Nunavut sometime soon, as it is too big of a project for the Kitikmeot Corporation to do alone, he said.

The transportation conference was organized by the Western Transportation Advisory Council (Westac), the University of Manitoba Transport Institute and the Van Horne Institute.