SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The new $50-million Northern Economic Development Agency headquarters will be based in Iqaluit and not Yellowknife, according to a National Post columnist.

John Ivison reported in a Tuesday column that the new agency, a Conservative government election promise, will be based in Iqaluit and will be announced during an August visit to the Nunavut capital by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Dimitri Soudas, press secretary for the Prime Minister's Office, said he could not confirm the trip nor where the agency will be based, calling the Post's report "speculation."

The promise of the agency came during the 2008 fall election campaign. The prime minister announced in the 2009 budget address the agency would receive $50-million over five years.

When asked about the agency headquarters possibly being stationed in Iqaluit, Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem said it should be based in the NWT capital.

"It should be here," Van Tighem said, arguing that Yellowknife is central and accessible. "You can get from Iqaluit to here and Whitehorse to here, but you can't get to Whitehorse (from Iqaluit) that easily."

Van Tighem said if the agency is based in Iqaluit it's for political reasons.

"They elected a Conservative member of Parliament," he said. "It never hurts when you're fighting over something with the federal government to have somebody who is directly related to you sitting at the cabinet table."

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington said if the agency headquarters is in Iqaluit, Harper will be going against the advice of some of his ministers, something Bevington said isn't surprising.

Although the agency will be headquartered in one territory, satellite offices will be established in the other two territories, said Chuck Strahl, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, during a March visit to Yellowknife.

In a March 31 statement to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, and Northern Development Patrick Borbey, assistant deputy minister of Northern Affairs for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, said the direction of the agency was still up in the air.

"While he has not made final decisions on mandate, structure, and role of the agency, the prime minister has clearly indicated that it would be a stand-alone organization with headquarters in the North and a strong presence in each of the three territories," he said.

Calls to Premier Floyd Roland were not returned by press time.

Prime Minister Harper has visited Nunavut each of the last three years - twice for official duties and once during the 2008 election campaign, where he gave his support to now Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

He last visited the NWT in 2008, prior to the fall election.