After years of balking at the notion to have a small percentage of its rough diamonds come back to the NWT for cutting and polishing, De Beers blinked recently in its long stand-off with the territorial government and capitulated.

Well, sort of.

De Beers told the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board for the first time that it will set aside some of its diamonds from Snap Lake for Yellowknife's growing secondary diamond industry in cutting and polishing.

It also gave some indication of what percentage of Northern and aboriginal workers it hopes to have -- between 40 per cent and 60 percent -- during various phases of its Snap Lake workforce.

If all this sounds pretty vague, well, it is. No hard numbers were committed to by De Beers -- in dollars, in bodies, or in diamonds -- with the company saying only it will try to work out the details in ongoing talks with the territorial government.

For De Beers, the bottom line is simply this: they want to start extracting diamonds from Snap Lake, 225 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, in 2006.

Having some of their diamonds cut and polished here, using Northern and aboriginal workers, is the cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories. Period.

De Beers, which controls about 65 per cent of the world's diamond production, would prefer to mix all their NWT diamonds with African diamonds and send them to its trading arm in London to be sorted together.

It's more efficient for them and they know from their market research that diamonds from Northern Canada -- which will make up about 1 per cent of their output -- have no particular brand identity advantage for them. They've asked potential customers if they care where their diamond comes from and the answer is, 'No.'

For De Beers, this will all prove to be a small concession.

Most of their diamonds from Snap Lake will still wind up going to London to be mixed, cut and polished as the South African diamond giant wants.

But whatever percentage stays behind in Yellowknife for cutting and polishing is a victory for the territorial government's insistence on creating a secondary diamond industry.

Successive NWT governments have followed the philosophy -- if not the actual line -- of ex-finance minister John Todd, who threatened in 1998 to introduce a mineral tax that would "choke a mule" if the diamond industry didn't play ball.

De Beers is simply learning the lesson BHP Billiton and Diavik have already learned.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

We here at Kivalliq News would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone across our region a happy holiday season and best wishes for the year to come.

Our next edition, Year in Review, will look back at the year that was in the Kivalliq and start us on our journey into 2003.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, we have a few Christmas wishes and gift ideas to pass along as we close out the year.

To Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean we send a life-sized cut-out of Arviat MLA Kevin O'Brien before he became House speaker.

Hopefully, the image will bring back memories of a time when McLean wasn't the only Kivalliq MLA constantly pressuring the Nunavut government for answers to questions of importance for our region.

For O'Brien, we send one stardust wish to use in hopes of dispelling the rumour Nunavut Liberal MP Nancy-Karetak Lindell is going to return to territorial politics and vie for the Arviat seat.

To Karetak-Lindell we send a coupon good for spending one full day with Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carleton in an arena of her choice, during which time neither will be asked to toe the party line.

To Nanulik MLA James Arvaluk we send words to live by: A great mind is a terrible thing to waste.

To Manitok Thompson we send one get-out-of-the-premier's-doghouse-free card for the next time she goes to bat for her constituents in Rankin South-Whale Cove.

To Jack Anawak we send a map of the Kivalliq so he can find his constituents in the riding of Rankin North before the next election.

We also send stocking stuffers of a bronzed miniature stack of crushed cans from the local dump and a piece of plastic artificial ice to commemorate all he has done for his riding during the past three years.

To Akulliq MLA Ovide Alakannuaq we send a booklet containing 50 reasons why Rankin North MLAs shouldn't pick his riding to run in during the next election.

We also send Alakannuaq one free photo copying coupon in case he thinks the booklet would make interesting reading for any of his Kivalliq counterparts.

To ministers Ed Picco and Kelvin Ng we send a framed portrait of the latest artistic rendition of the Rankin Inlet Regional Health Centre.

And, finally, to Premier Paul Okalik we send a new set of goalie gear and an invitation to bring his government team to Rankin Inlet for a friendly game against the local PPD squad.

May these gifts be received in the spirit for which they were intended. Merry Christmas everyone.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

The huge rent increase faced by Martin Goodliffe is an isolated incident that has nothing to do with a greedy landlord, but does illuminate a flaw within landlord legislation.

If a landlord decides they no longer want to be a landlord, they can't just kick people into the street, but apparently, they can raise their rent so high that they will be forced into the street.

Three months' notice is all that's required and you could see your rent doubled, tripled or quadrupled under current territorial legislation.

Looking at the rent being asked around town, it seems we have a lot of landlords who want out of the business.

We see once-affordable housing around town that's now turned into "executive suites" with an executive price tag about double what the old rent was.

It's just this type of behaviour that forces government into the marketplace.

If someone wants out of the rental business, they want to demolish for new development or if they are just motivated by pure greed, rents can, and are going through the roof here.

It begs the question: Where will low income people live? The answer is: Not Inuvik.

Our waiters and waitresses, store clerks and gas jockeys, will all require $25 per hour to get by here.

So to keep employees, business owners will have to provide housing and that will drive their costs up, which in turn, drives their customers' costs up.

This begs another question: How much will you pay for a cup of coffee?

It goes 'round and 'round, but in the end, we all end up paying for high rents and if these landlords don't get wise, soon they'll be heating empty units.

This winter, the greedheads have no choice but to suck up the loss from their empty executive suites and maybe next winter too, but when that pipeline starts getting built, people will have no choice but to pay the exorbitant price demanded.

When I lived in Banff, Alta., I watched this story play out.

Chambermaids, waitresses and gas jockeys living under bridges because they couldn't find a place to live, never mind one they could afford.

We don't have any bridges here, but I know people were sleeping under buildings downtown last winter.

Will it take a few frozen bodies to legislate some rent control here or can we hope that the landlords settle for a little profit instead of a huge one?

I'm hoping for the latter, but the way things are going, I'm not too hopeful.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

It hasn't been much of a cold winter yet.

Technically speaking, it's not even winter at all. That season officially begins on Dec. 21, although it seems silly to think of November and December as autumn in the North.

Even though it has been relatively mild, many of us have slipped into that habit of convenience: letting our vehicles idle so they can be toasty warm when we get inside. Other times, we fall prey to the best of intentions: making a brief stop somewhere, running inside and quickly returning to the idling vehicle. The next thing you know, 10 or 15 minutes has passed while carbon dioxide is belching from the tailpipe.

That issue isn't unique to the North. According to a recent Canadian Press article, Calgary city council is about to debate whether to penalize those who leave their vehicles idling too long. Toronto already has a bylaw that gives motorists a three-minute idling limit. After that, vehicle owners are subject to a fine of up to $2,000.

It's unlikely that Toronto's bylaw officers are walking around with stopwatches to nab anyone who surpasses the 180 allotted seconds. It's also unlikely that first or second time offenders are receiving fines over $100. But the law is on the books, and those who flout it by letting their vehicles run for half an hour or more deserve what they have coming to them.

Such legislation makes good sense. Even if you're not a big believer in climate change or global warming -- or if you're skeptical that humans are responsible for such phenomenons -- there's no room for doubt when it comes to air pollution. Poor air quality advisories are becoming more and more frequent all over the world every summer, and Canada is no exception. There's no lack of scientific evidence linking vehicle exhaust to smog alerts.

Even so, there is an argument to be made for allowing cars to warm up properly during the winter. It's often pointed out by environmentalists that, mechanically speaking, the engine only needs a minute or two to warm up (a block heater is useful here). However, the vehicle's cabin heating system takes longer, sometimes five or 10 minutes in extreme cold. It's not just warm seats at the heart of the issue, it's also ensuring that one's windshield doesn't frost or fog up. It can be a hazard to take off after only a minute or two because even after thoroughly scraping the outside of the windows, frost can still form quickly on the inside, if the vehicle isn't warmed up sufficiently.

So we need to strike a balance. If we jump into a cold vehicle and drive off right away, we assume the risk of running down some poor pedestrian when our windshields frost over. On the other hand, we don't need to leave our vehicles idling for prolonged periods of time. Some people won't stop, though.

At least there's the promise of fuel-efficient vehicles. Hybrid and hydrogen-powered cars, trucks and SUVs will hopefully be the way of the future and take some of the stink out of the air.