Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 13/06) - Prime Minister Paul Martin threw his weight behind the Mackenzie Gas Project this week, but declined to discuss resource revenue sharing.

"I want to see that pipeline go ahead," Martin said in a 10-minute interview his office offered in an effort to bolster the fortunes of Western Arctic incumbent Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

Prime Minister Paul Martin says he wants to see the Mackenzie Gas Project go ahead and is prepared to review the Northern living allowance and protect NWT caribou herds.

Martin pointed to his government's promise of $500 million over 10 years to communities affected by the pipeline, but wasn't "going to get into what was really a successful negotiation" on devolution.

Blondin-Andrew has promoted the view that the opposition brought down the government when it was about to reach an agreement on devolution with the territorial government.

That view has been challenged by Northern leaders, and Premier Joe Handley said that devolution won't come without a deal on resource revenue sharing.

"We want to conclude resource sharing as quickly as possible. It's a central part of building the North," Martin said. "I'm not going to get into quantification. The North has tremendous resources and responsibilities and needs the funding to do the job."

He referred to the Northern Strategy which has delivered $120 million to communities across the North and the First Ministers' meeting in Kelowna last fall that pledged $5 billion to raise living conditions of aboriginal people.

"That agreement has got to go forward; it's just too important to the North," he said, and pointed to Conservative finance critic Monte Solberg's rejection of the plan.

"The fact that the Conservatives won't honour that commitment is beyond the pale."

Martin said the federal government is prepared to look at the Northern living allowance and the tax burden on people living in the North.

"We would like to see a mechanism in place for reducing the costs of living in the North," he said. "We've got to make sure people living in the North have a quality of life comparable to the south."

Martin also pointed to the plan to bolster Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic with two new search and rescue aircraft in Yellowknife and patrol remote areas with drones.

Questioned about protection of caribou herds, Martin pointed to his opposition to drilling in Alaska's Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

"I made a very big issue of this in the fight with the Americans on the Porcupine herd," he said. "We can't turn our backs on the caribou herds across the Arctic."

The Chamber of Commerce wants Ottawa to reduce the paper burden on small and medium sized businesses.

"There's no doubt about the necessity of reducing the paperwork," said Martin, who blamed government bureaucracies and overlapping regulatory responsibilities.

"The problem is that people are able to think up new regulations," he said. "It's amazing the imagination people can bring to new regulations. We've got to watch it all the time."

But he defended the public service in Ottawa and the Northwest Territories, and said there are not too many government workers.

The NWT Status of Women's Council wants legal aid extended to civil cases to improve access to legal counsel for women.

"We believe there has to be an improved legal aid program right across the country," said Martin, who has promised a summit on native women's issues.

* For a story on CBC forum, see - Tell it like it is.