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Giant symbol

Mine reflects commitment - Bevington

Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 15/00) - Giant Mine is symbolic of how little attention the Liberals have paid to the North, said NDP candidate Dennis Bevington.

On Tuesday Bevington took aim at the Liberal government's record on the Northern environment in the latest in a series of press conferences in locations designed to highlight the issues.

This time it was in -16 C weather at the entrance to one of the oldest gold mines in the North, a mine Bevington called "one of the worst industrial sites in Canada."

With an estimated clean-up cost of close to $300 million, Giant Mine was abandoned in 1999 when owner Royal Oak Mines went bankrupt. Security for the clean-up of the mine amounted to $400,000 at the time.

"This fully illustrates the lack of planning, the lack of will that's gone into the management of Northern resources under the Liberal government," said Bevington.

He noted the federal government approved only $3.3 million for clean-up work at the mine this year.

The money was not approved until July, well into the business year.

Department of Indian Affairs officials overseeing the clean-up had requested $8.8 million and said almost all of the funding approved would be assigned to the clean up of Colomac, another mine clean-up the federal government inherited when Royal Oak went under.

"We demand the federal government put its money where its mouth is and clean this up," said the former mayor of Fort Smith.

Bevington said Giant also illustrates the regard the Liberals have for working people. The Liberals, he said, stood by when the pensions of 59 Giant employees were cut by 25 per cent. The cut came after Giant's board of directors withdrew $2.2 million from the pension fund to buy company stock.

At the same time, the territorial and federal governments -- and the City of Yellowknife in its purchase of property at the mine -- contributed incentives worth more than $1.2 million to lure Miramar Mining to take over operation of the mine.

Bevington also called on the federal government to allow the North to make its own environmental decisions, noting that under the new Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act the final say on all large scale projects rests with the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Liberal incumbent Ethel Blondin-Andrew was campaigning in the Beaufort-Delta and unavailable to respond to the issues Bevington raised.