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NWT plays hardball in Ottawa

Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 06/02) - Northern business people just won't take "no" for an answer.

The NWT Business Coalition is in Ottawa on a blitz drive, asking for infrastructure cash again.

This time, if it doesn't get what it wants, the group will play hardball.

"That may be one of the messages we give to the media when we are down there. If we don't have the kind of information, we will start saying, 'How poor it is on the part of the federal government that they are not prepared to even hold an audience with this group,'" said the coalition's Kelly Kaylo.

The odds are against the group though.

"We're a small jurisdiction tucked way up here in Northern Canada that we don't get seen and therefore aren't heard," said Kaylo.

The group wants the federal government to come up with $133 million to build NWT roads, water and sewer systems.

But when the NWT's share was announced in September, it only added up to $20 million.

Far from being beaten, the group is making more noise this time - pushing to influence every media outlet available in the capital and meeting with politicians who will see it. About 20 Northern businesses are in Ottawa backed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Ten business people were scheduled to meet with ministers one-on-one.

Right now the NWT is booming with diamond mining as well as mineral oil and gas exploration. The territorial government doesn't see any royalty cash from the billions of dollars of diamonds leaving the North though. It is unable to keep up with the flood of workers moving North, needing homes.

"As development continues, the infrastructure will continue to deteriorate and the tax base here is so minuscule we'll never be able to raise it ourselves," said Kaylo.

Ottawa appears to be sympathetic to the Northerners but doesn't seem to be loosening the purse strings or opening its doors for meetings. Resource Minister Herb Dhaliwal is the highest profile appointment. "We are a little concerned about not being able to see Allan Rock," said Kaylo. The infrastructure program rests within his department.

On Tuesday night the group was to put on a Northern resources show and reception featuring diamonds and other riches. And that's what the trip is all about.

"It's a series of video clips and speakers presenting the resource potential and the developments that are going on in the North, summing it up with what is required to sustain that development - In other words the infrastructure dollars," said Kaylo.