Inuvik (May 13/05) - While his company has no direct stake in the proposed pipeline, Rocky's Plumbing co-owner Mario Lemieux says the recent decision to halt engineering work on the project has hit his business hard.

Mario Lemieux, co-owner of Rocky's Plumbing, lost a $600,000 contract when Imperial Oil announced it would halt further engineering work on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.

"With the Imperial Oil announcement, financial backers on three 12-plex units going up this summer said 'Well, it doesn't look like a good deal' and pulled their support," said Lemieux, referring to Doycon Northern Incorporated, which had contracted Rocky's Plumbing to do $600,000 worth of work on the units.

"It may go next year, it may not. The fact remains there's a hole in my season."

Lemieux says he has $75,000 worth of material for the job sitting in his yard and turned down other work to focus on the now-cancelled 12-plexes.

"We've got all different levels of government who all have people in place to see this (pipeline) deal through, there's no excuse to allow it to get to this point."

And Lemieux is not alone in his frustration. New North Networks owner Tom Zubko says cancelled summer construction projects are merely the tip of the iceberg.

"If there's no pipeline, the $280 million in activity planned for next year, that's in jeopardy," Zubko said.

"There's no way (big oil) will be spending money on drilling if there's no way of getting it to market."

Michel Scott, vice president of Government and Public Affairs for Devon - which has a $60 million off-shore well planned for the Beaufort Sea north of Richards Island - says the recent Imperial Oil announcement won't stop work on that project. He noted, however, the importance of a pipeline coming to fruition with respect to future exploration.

"If we could see the pipeline coming, of course there'd be more drilling," he said. "If the pipeline doesn't go forward, there's no point in doing more exploratory work."

Roland in the hot seat

At a constituency meeting held in Inuvik last week, several local business people like Lemieux turned out to express their worries.

"There were more people (at the meeting) than I expected and a fair bit of concern," said GNWT Finance Minister and Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland.

Roland also admitted some shortfall on his government's part.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone championing the project and challenging information coming from environmental groups," he said.

"On top of that, it seems we as a government have been quiet on that front."

Pushing the GNWT's mandate to get a devolution and resource revenue sharing agreement with Ottawa, Roland says the territory is essentially caught between a rock and a hard place in attempting to take any kind of lead in pushing negotiations along.

"The fact is, places like Ontario and Alberta can afford to spend money up front and accept debt. We in the North can't afford to take on debt because we don't get a payday."

"I don't think we have anybody saying this project can't go forward," added Roland. "We want to ensure we receive benefits for the North."

This week Roland was scheduled to meet in Ottawa with Deputy Prime Minister Anne McClellan, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.