Making political hay
Kakfwi, Nerysoo shrug off Yukon's pipe dreams

Richard Gleeson and Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 27/00) - While the Yukon's politicians pitch the proposed pipeline to the voters, NWT leaders have discounted the Yukon plan as just making political hay.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi said he was not losing any sleep over the Yukon proposal.

"It's my view that producers will want to do it for the least expense possible and that is, right now, the Mackenzie Valley route," said Kakfwi.

The premier noted the Yukon is not nearly as rich in oil, gas and minerals as the NWT. Yukon politicians and political candidates, just beginning an election campaign, want to show they are willing to fight for every chance to create jobs for their people, Kakfwi said.

But, the premier added, "Canada is not going to benefit from Alaskan gas flowing through Canadian territory."

Kakfwi said he discussed the pipeline competition with his Yukon counterpart Piers McDonald at the March 4 Northern Leaders forum in Whitehorse.

"I said I'm not going to get into a nasty debate about it ... and offered to share information with him."

Kakfwi said the Mackenzie Valley route makes sense in other ways -- it would provide natural gas to communities along the route, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fuel costs.

Gwich'in Tribal Council president and former government leader, Richard Nerysoo, agreed with Kakwfi, saying the Yukon politicians are just doing what politicians need to do to get elected.

"I think that that's their job," Nerysoo said.

He added any decision on which route the pipeline will take will be based on simple economics.

"At the end of the day, the decisions that will be made will be made on the basis of the best business proposition that is brought forward -- not necessarily the best political debate," he said.

"Our success in any of the things that we propose, is going to have to make good business sense and I think that is being overlooked in this whole process."

When aboriginal leaders first met to discuss the pipeline, it was proposed the line be built and owned by aboriginal people. Nerysoo said that may not be the most practical option.

"Anything is feasible where you have the capacity to raise the resources, that's the important thing," he said.

"Having said that, we have to understand that there is an important component for those people who are in the business of pipeline construction. They know the business."

"While the aboriginal community may want to own 100 per cent of the project, we have to understand that there is a fiscal requirement in this project that may exceed our ability to raise the financing," he said.

One option Nerysoo said could be a 51/49 per cent split partnership with a pipeline company, such as TransCanada PipeLines, which has expressed interest in the multi-billion dollar project.

Nerysoo said the pipeline is one of many important components in a larger business scheme.

"This is one of the building blocks in a project that may be larger than what we had originally proposed," he said of the possibility of connecting to the North Slope reserves in Alaska.

"I think the best place to start is in the Mackenzie Delta," Nerysoo said.

"From there, you can move west, or you can move north."