PM's apparent Yukon endorsement worries officials
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Nov 24/00) - MLA Floyd Roland says he's "disappointed" by comments attributed to Prime Minister Jean Chretien regarding natural gas pipeline routes.
During a campaign stop in Whitehorse last week, Chretien was quoted as saying that an agreement between the U.S. and Canada in the 1970s requires that Alaska gas be transported down the Alaska highway and through the Yukon.
"If he actually said it himself, it's very disappointing," Roland said Tuesday, saying that this undermines all the work that's been done promoting the Mackenzie Valley pipeline route.
Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson agreed.
"From a council perspective, we're hoping he was mistaken or misinformed," Clarkson said.
He pointed out the council supports the Mackenzie Valley route, which would cost less to build and would bring more revenues for Canada.
Western Arctic MP Ethel-Blondin Andrew has issued several statements on the issue, saying that Chretien's comments were misinterpreted. Blondin-Andrew said she spoke with Chretien last Friday.
"Those reports are wrong," Blondin-Andrew said in a release.
"Governments can not preempt the decision-making process. And that can only start when producers make formal applications, something that has not happened yet."
Roland is not reassured
He didn't actually hear Chretien's comments, he said, but "other people I've talked to say he actually said those words."
Roland said he wonders if the wind is now out of the sails of Mackenzie Valley route proponents, or whether this was just an election ploy.
He said that if Chretien did endorse the Yukon route, the best course of action for him to take would be to issue a retraction.
"We've got to be paying a fair bit of attention to what's next," Roland said. "We need to do a little more investigation."
Roland said this brings up another matter, in that in the past he and others have questioned Premier Stephen Kakfwi and Joe Handley, minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, about the non-renewable resources development strategy and the royalty revenue sharing agreement.
Roland said Kakfwi and Handley had said their discussions with Ottawa had been positive and that they were waiting to hear back from the federal government on those matters.
"Was this a total blindside?" Roland said of Chretien's comments.
"Somebody spilled the beans here."
