Yellowknife (Feb 04/05) - Mayor Gord Van Tighem wants to make sure the city get its fair share of federal gas tax money. Provinces and territories will get $5 billion over five years from taxes collected on gasoline sales. The NWT's portion is $37.5 million.

Some NWT taxed-based communities, including Yellowknife, were upset at a decision by the territorial government to give smaller communities a larger share of the $32 million Rural Infrastructure Fund, announced last month.

Van Tighem hopes Yellowknife will be better awarded with the gas tax sharing agreement, announced by John Godfrey, the minister responsible for cities, on Tuesday, although it's not known when the money will arrive.

Nearly one-half of the NWT's residents live in Yellowknife.

"Time will tell," said Van Tighem. "The one assurance that the communities in the Northwest Territories got from the minister is that they will be involved in the debate leading up to what the allocation becomes."

Michael McLeod, territorial minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, said the government hasn't made any decisions on how the money will be divided. "I want to have an open discussion and hear what suggestions are brought forward," said McLeod.

"We have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Canada, and indicate how we're going to flow the money to the communities."

The gas tax money is tied to Canada's Kyoto Accord agreement with other countries to reduce carbon-based pollutants. Municipalities must use the money for infrastructure projects like public transit, water treatment, roads and community energy-saving ventures.

Blake Lyons, a city councillor and president of the NWT Association of Communities, said the NWT did well, considering the competition they faced from big cities like Toronto and Montreal.

"They were looking for the money to primarily go into rapid transit," said Lyons.

"Once you come North, our version of rapid transit and theirs are two different things."

Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew said there's more gas tax money yet to come. "There will be $15 million yearly after the first five years," she said.