DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - The community of Fort Providence is getting a free ride courtesy of a far-too-generous Deh Cho Bridge benefit agreement that will give the town $7 million in financial support from the GNWT during the first 35 years of the bridge's life, says one MLA.

MLA Dave Ramsay says he's concerned a GNWT agreement giving the community of Fort Providence $7 million over the next 35 years to foster economic opportunities from the Deh Cho Bridge will make Fort Providence the envy of other communities in the territory. - NNSL file photo

Yellowknife's Dave Ramsay, MLA for Kam Lake, said he's concerned the Community Opportunities and Involvement Agreement will be the envy of other communities in the NWT. The agreement was signed in April and released on the territorial governments' Deh Cho Bridge website in July.

"It's a scary precedent for the government to be setting because there's a number of other communities around the territory that could certainly use some extra funding like that on an annual basis to fund community projects and spend as they deem fit," said Ramsay.

Under the agreement, the former members of the now-dissolved Deh Cho Bridge Corporation - the Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation and the Fort Providence Metis Council - will collectively receive $200,000 a year starting on the April 1 following the bridge's opening.

As the agreement puts it, the money will go toward "creating community benefits and economic opportunities related to the bridge," which is now expected to open next fall.

In addition, the two groups began receiving $8,000 a month in July "for the purpose of promoting community involvement in the bridge project during the construction of the bridge." That funding runs out in March 2012.

Ramsay said the agreement is too "one-sided" because the community groups have not put up sufficient equity to justify the project being called a "partnership" between the GNWT and Fort Providence.

According to Joachim Bonnetrouge, chief of the Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation, his government has contributed $1.4 million to the $182 million bridge project.

"Their investment in the project was to be $5 million," said Ramsay. "The problem is, they never had $5 million. They never were able to raise the equity. And still, the government insists that this was a partnership."

Ramsay said the new agreement effectively removes any financial risk for Fort Providence. The agreement will be the envy of other communities, he said.

"I have to question what the community is going to be doing for the money. They're just basically receiving $200,000 a year," he said.

"I've talked to a number of people around the territory that are aware that that agreement was signed, and there's some concern out there about precedent, about fairness ..."

Bonnetrouge disagreed with Ramsay, saying his community's contribution to the bridge can't simply be measured in dollars.

"The community is offering the passage over the ... river and that, as far as the people are concerned, is a big contribution," said Bonnetrouge.

"We are, I guess, forfeiting or giving up our peace and solitude every spring because now we're going to have traffic 24/7."

While increased traffic will bring more visitors and potentially more tourists to Fort Providence, it will also bring "more outside access and disturbance to our community, a small native community. It has a tendency to attract a lot of social (problems), a lot of drinking."

Bonnetrouge said he's not worried people will think his community hasn't earned the benefits offered by the new agreement.

"We are a community that gave it our best. We gave it our all. We've learned lots from it. I think it's our view that the opportunity that's being presented now has been earned by the community and its leaders."

Norman Yakeleya, MLA for the Sahtu region, said it would be "irresponsible" for the GNWT not to offer financial support to the town.

"We're in their area, on their land. It could have gotten really messy ... if we didn't support the community of Fort Providence," he said.

Ramsay said his concern about the agreement also stems from the fact that the bridge, in his view, will lose money and be a tax burden on NWT residents.

"The financial projections that I've seen would indicate that that bridge is going to be running on a deficit on an annual (basis)," said Ramsay.

He initially aired his concerns about the agreement and the bridge's finances in the legislative assembly on Oct. 20.

"There is no indication right now that there will be a deficit," Michael McLeod, minister of Transportation, replied that day. "The traffic volumes are going to allow for us to accommodate all the debt on this bridge. In fact, if the traffic volumes go up and we start to see more projects come on stream, we will probably have some significant surplus on this that will be applied back to some of the costs incurred and into the government coffers, which will make it a very popular project, I assume."

McLeod could not be reached for further comment.

According to a conservative estimate in a 2006 study conducted by Prolog Canada, the amount of one-way traffic on the bridge will only increase with every year.

Though traffic declined this year on Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, "Looking forward, we expect that events will justify the forecast in the Prolog study," said Earl Blacklock, spokesperson for the Department of Transportation.

The department does not currently plan to update the four-year-old study, but "I expect that, if circumstances warrant it, yes, we would," added Blacklock.

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