OTTAWA - After getting brushed off by Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice in the House of Commons last week, Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington took his "increase the northern tax deduction" cause to the media Tuesday.

"It's absurd that this deduction has not changed in 20 years when inflation has increased 65 per cent since then," said Bevington while staffers circulated photocopies of an Iqaluit grocery store flyer advertising detergent for $19.99; the same brand sells in Ottawa for $6.

Introduced during by Brian Mulroney's Conservative government in 1987, the Northern Residents Tax Deduction provides up to $5,475 based on the number of days a person lives in the North, the size of household they live in and whether they travelled for vacation.

"Even though we had one of the fastest growing economies in the country, we actually experienced negative growth in our population," said Bevington. "The principle of the deduction was to make it a fair process for all working people and that's been degraded over the years because our costs are higher and because of that we end up paying more in GST."

When Bevington questioned Prentice on the matter, the minister said his government was creating jobs in the North and focused on economic development in this region.

"That is the key, to create jobs and employment opportunities," Prentice said.

"There is the Mackenzie Valley pipeline in particular and the $500 million socio-economic fund."

The fund is contingent on the project going ahead and the most recent estimate put the project cost at $16.2 billion, casting doubt on whether the pipeline will be built.

In the meantime, Bevington said he hopes to garner support from other MPs whose northern constituencies are impacted by higher living costs.

"There's probably another 17 or 18 MPs whose ridings are affected by this," he said. "I've raised it in the house a number of times and I encourage others to do the sameÖ all politicians in the North."