Inuvik (May 02/03) - The Northwest Territories is open for business, according to Robert Nault, the minister of Indian and Northern Development.

Robert Nault, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, held a telephone press conference last week to follow up on his recent trip to the NWT and announced that he was going to Washington, D.C., to discuss pipeline plans with American officials. - NNSL photo

Nault held a telephone press conference last Friday to announce he was heading to Washington, D.C., to meet with energy producers and government officials to discuss the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline and its rival, the Alaska pipeline.

Nault said both governments are eager to work towards a secure energy supply and he felt very optimistic that producers and governments are ready to go ahead with the Mackenzie Valley route.

"We are ready as a government, as a regulator and we are open for business," Nault said. "We believe that the industry and aboriginal people, working together, have now come to a point where an agreement should be forthcoming any day now."

While nothing official has been announced by the Aboriginal Pipeline Group or the producers in the Mackenzie Gas Project, Nault says the financing deal is all but complete between the APG and a lender.

"We're all lined up and ready to roll and I'm very encouraged by what I'm hearing, but I think we have to send that message to our partners in Washington," Nault said.

He expects a preliminary information package within the next few months that will outline the initial plans for the pipe.

In anticipation for the coming boom, Nault said, governments are working to shore up impacted areas.

"When we are expanding an economy, obviously we will need to expand the infrastructure," Nault said. "It's our obligation as a government."

He said is developing a Northern "frontier policy" that includes improvements for infrastructure as well as economic opportunity for Northerners to help manage the boom economy.

"Those are all areas government officials are working on now and proposals are being presented both by territorial and aboriginal governments," Nault said.

While he doesn't see loan guarantees as necessary, Nault said he's not ruling them out either.

"I've left it on the table as an option, simply because as a government, we have done that with previous initiatives in other parts of the country," he said, citing resource projects in Northern Ontario and Bombardier. "I continue to say it's an option, but not our preferred option."

Nault plans to discuss the future of both the Alaskan and Mackenzie lines, but will oppose the proposed floor price tax credit the Alaskan government is lobbying for.

"That will affect our marketplace in Canada and that pipeline will go through Canada, so we want to ensure ourselves that we are not working at cross purposes," he said. "We do think that market forces must decide where a pipeline gets built."

He says there is room in the market for both pipelines.

"I don't think the two pipelines are conflicting," Nault said. "We've always believed that the energy supply that will come from the two pipelines are needed in North America."

"Both will eventually go -- that's a certainty in my mind."

In the studies he's read, Nault doesn't see the "over the top" route from Prudhoe Bay to Inuvik as a viable alternative.

"There is no savings by going over the top."

He said both governments can ensure a secure energy supply without distorting the market.