Jason Unrau
Northern News Services
Monday, March 12, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The territorial government and Mackenzie Gas Project proponents signed a socio-economic agreement Jan. 22, after 70 days of negotiations, formalizing commitments by Shell, ConocoPhillips and Imperial Oil to offer training and hire Northern workers and businesses.

Social advocacy group Alternatives North issued a press release Jan. 25 criticizing the agreement on several fronts.

"This agreement does nothing to address the real incremental and forced growth costs that the MGP will place on public programs and services such as policing, health care, housing, emergency response, and the municipal infrastructure gap," said Alternatives North Co-Chair Ben McDonald in the press release.

McDonald also criticized the budget allotment for an MGP monitoring body ($200,000/year during construction, $75,000 after), comparing it to substantially higher budgets for diamond mine monitoring boards.

"The nature of (the pipeline) project is entirely different (to the mines)," said Brendan Bell, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Bell said after the project is completed, there would be little further construction, which is different from the mining industry.

"What is important is obviously we need monitoring and future permitting for tie-ins (to the pipeline) but that's a whole additional process and this agreement couldn't speak to those hypotheticals," said Bell.

On the issue of safeguarding and enhancing infrastructure that would be necessary for the project's completion, Bell said proponents and municipalities will work through these items on a case-by-case basis.

"This agreement didn't try or endeavour to resolve all of those issues as it's just one part of the larger picture," said Bell.

"In terms of municipal impacts, it's very real the project will have impacts on roads and water and sewer, and project proponents will sit down with municipalities and work out fees for services...(these) still are agreements to be conducted and struck."

Alternatives North also questioned the absence of penalties for non-compliance if industry does not meet its targets, including the commitment to have 17 per cent of the workforce comprised of Northerners.

Bell said the $21 million training fund and a commitment from proponents to cover travel costs to and from the job site for anybody in the North working on the project will help meet those employment targets.

"It virtually guarantees anybody who's interested and willing to work, they can get training and a job," said Bell.

Alternatives North expressed concern that there was no public review of the agreement.

Bell said negotiating publicly and through the media "would've been cumbersome and unimaginable."