John Curran
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 20/05) - When delegates saw the schedule for the 2005 Inuvik Petroleum Show many circled the Finding Common Ground panel discussion as the can't-miss event.

Imperial's Randy Ottenbreit, foreground, insists the federal government must come forward with money to meet the social funding demands of communities along the route of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline route or the project will likely die. His fellow panelists - DIAND official Randy Meades and NWT Premier Joe Handley await their turn to speak. - John Currran/NNSL photo

But after Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Herb Norwegian failed to show up and non-confidence votes kept Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and northern development minister Andy Scott in Ottawa propping up the Liberal minority government, much of the doubt surrounding the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline remained.

Once again about 700 delegates and exhibitors flocked to Inuvik for the fifth annual event, one of the biggest economic development conferences in the North.

Most of the talk this year wasn't about the tremendous boom oil and gas exploration provide the NWT economy. Instead people focused on how to save the pipeline and what will happen if the $7 billion project dies amid the current quagmire of regulatory hurdles and funding requests.

"The project lead by Imperial is having problems negotiating access and benefits agreements with aboriginal communities while other companies doing other projects others are not," said Hay River's Doug Cardinal, pointing blame at the lead organization of the pipeline producers group.

He suggested it was time for Imperial to either come to the table as a willing partner or get out of the way for someone else to commercialize the Mackenzie Valley's vast petroleum reserves.

Randy Ottenbreit, part of Imperial's team working on pipeline negotiations in the NWT, said it's not the company's fault few agreements have been reached and called the requests made by aboriginal communities unreasonable and not his employer's concern.

Imperial pays taxes and resource royalties to the federal government and Ottenbreit said those dollars should be used to build hospitals and other social services for communities affected by the pipeline.

Inuvialuit support

The company wasn't alone in voicing this opinion. Inuvialuit Regional Corporation chairperson and chief executive officer Nellie Cournoyea complained the biggest problem today is that too many people are making too many demands of the wrong parties.

"There's only one group that has the big stick," she said about meeting social spending needs along the Mackenzie Valley. "That's the federal government."

In the town of Inuvik, the social concerns largely take a backseat to fears of what might happen if the line doesn't go through.

Inuvik's economy was depressed for about 20 years from the late 1970s to the late 1990s when oil and gas activity in the Delta all but dried up, said Mayor Peter Clarkson.

Getting the pipeline to go forward and avoiding another catastrophic collapse is his primary concern. He said there will be social issues arising from the pipeline, but that should not stop construction.

"It is going to change the North as we know it," he said. "We hope we can mitigate the bad."

Fort Good Hope resident Lucy Jackson said people in communities like hers aren't prepared to watch the pipeline go through without first seeing their problems solved.

"In the non-tax-based communities we lack all these infrastructure necessities, like nurses, and it's been 30 years that we've been waiting for them," she said. "It's the children and elders who are suffering as a result."

In the case of those hoping for a giant economic windfall in exchange for letting the pipeline move forward, Bill Gallagher, an independent consultant involved in negotiating access on Newfoundland's Voisey's Bay nickel project, said they should do for themselves rather than expecting a handout.

"For aboriginal communities looking for a quick fix, I suggest you get in the joint-venture business," he said.

He did remain optimistic about the pipeline's future.

"I've worked on these types of projects where you have to put the wheels back on in a hurry - it can happen in Canada," he said.

"But nothing is going to happen without infrastructure for the communities."