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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The premiers of Canada's three northern territories discussed more than nine hefty topics during the two-day Northern Premiers' Forum last week.

Premier Bob McLeod joined premiers Darrell Pasloski and Eva Aariak in Iqaluit for the forum from June 26 to 27. The trio discussed issues pertaining to the development and sustainability of Northern communities as well as made a call to the federal government regarding the territories' involvement in Canada's upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

"We thought it was important for us to understand what the government of Canada was planning for the year that they're chairing the Arctic Council," McLeod said.

"We realize that time is of the essence because the federal government of Canada is assuming chairmanship in 2013, which is just around the corner."

Included in the call was a request that the federal government more directly include the North in identifying priorities for the council and that the council be hosted in the North. The premiers also declared support for Arctic research and science that would benefit the lives of Northerners and the Arctic environment.

The Canadian Energy Strategy topic, which received support at the Western Premiers' Conference earlier this year, was revisited at the forum with a Northern focus.

"We're going to work together on the Canadian Energy Strategy to make sure that it's not focused totally on exporting but also to make sure our domestic energy needs including those of the North are provided for so we have a secure sustainable and reliable supply of energy" said McLeod.

"We didn't talk about any specifics although we did focus mainly on oil and gas development, making sure that we have secure reliable energy for the North and also have transmission lines for hydro."

McLeod identified highways, airports and ports as important investments in Northern infrastructure development and said the $250 million renovation - previously $200 million - to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife as an example of an infrastructure project the territorial government already has in the works. The Northern premiers also called for base-funding plus a per capita formula to fund the infrastructure developments and identified infrastructure improvements as a way to mitigate the high cost of living. The base-funding plus per capita formula was also called for during the Western Premiers' Conference, which McLeod and Pasloski attended in May.

With the development of Northern industry and tourism, the premiers also identified a need to improve the capabilities of Search and Rescue in the North.

"We need a stronger presence on the ground to deal with the fact that there's a lot more activity in the North," said McLeod.

"There's more cruise ships, there's more planes flying overhead, so we need to have a better capability to respond."

McLeod said one of the problems the current state of Search and Rescue is that most aerial support comes from elsewhere in the country such as Trenton, Ontario, Greenwood, Nova Scotia, or Comox, British Columbia.

Among other topics the premiers' had up for discussion was the importance of devolution for northern territories and called for an increase to the Northern Resident's Deduction.

"We didn't focus on a specific number," McLeod said. "We're focusing mainly on providing for fairness in taxation, recognizing that the Northern territories pay a higher percentage in federal income taxes than their counterparts in the south."

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