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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In last week's speech from the throne, the federal government committed to reducing regulatory and other "barriers" to a natural gas pipeline in the North.

"The natural gas that lies beneath Canada's North represents both an untapped source of clean fuel and an unequalled avenue to creating economic opportunities for Northern people," said Governor General Michaelle Jean in delivering the speech on Nov. 19.

"Our government will reduce regulatory and other barriers to extend the pipeline network into the North."

The commitment by Ottawa is being welcomed by Bob Reid, president of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group (APG).

"Those are encouraging words is how I would describe them, but now we want to see those words put into some kind of action," he said.

Reid said he is looking forward to something more concrete from Ottawa in the coming weeks.

"We need to do something to break the logjam here," he said. "The project is not moving forward as it should."

Pius Rolheiser, a spokesperson for Imperial Oil, described the throne speech statements as encouraging.

Rolheiser said proponents support making the regulatory process more efficient and streamlined, but do not want shortcuts.

"We want the permits that we obtain to have integrity," he said.

Rolheiser said the government's statement of the potential positive impacts of the project was also encouraging.

The Imperial spokesperson doesn't know what the government has planned to remove barriers to the project.

The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, which would see natural gas moved from the Beaufort Delta to the south via a pipeline, filed its first applications with regulators in October of 2004.

The proponents are currently awaiting a report from the Joint Review Panel, which began hearings in February 2006 and finished a year ago as of Nov. 29.

Its report is expected sometime next year.

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington has questions about what the federal government's promise to reduce barriers actually means.

If it means Ottawa is considering centralizing decision-making into one agency, Bevington said, "That's not going to be very well supported."

Bevington said he will be asking questions in the House of Commons about what exactly the government has in mind.

The speech from the throne also mentioned a new agency to oversee economic development in the North.

"Economic development in Canada's North, led by a new stand-alone agency, is a key element of our Northern strategy," the speech stated.

Bevington said such a stand-alone agency has been mentioned before by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"My question is would it take existing funding away from existing agencies that might be doing a good job," Bevington said. "I don't see that it would mean any new money for the North."

The MP said the government talked about creating a major projects office in its last throne speech.

"I think that would be contrary to devolution," he said.

Bevington said there was no mention of devolution or resource revenue sharing in the Nov. 19 speech.

Reid said such a new agency would not affect the Mackenzie gas project, which would still have to complete the existing regulatory process.

Along with the APG, the proponents of the project include four major energy companies - Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips, Shell and ExxonMobil.