SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A simplified permit and licence issuing process and consistent decision-making is what the federal government is proposing through its action plan to improve Northern regulatory regimes, the federal minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development announced Monday.

Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Chuck Strahl announced a plan to improve Northern regulatory regimes in the territory. He spoke at the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce business luncheon on Monday. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

Chuck Strahl told an audience of businesspeople and politicians at the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday afternoon, the action plan involves legislative changes to make the process more efficient and predictable, with proposed timelines for decisions and a clarified role for regulators, boards, industry and government.

A new Northwest Territories Surface Rights Act will be created, bringing the territory in line with Yukon and Nunavut. Ottawa will spend $11 million over two years to do those changes.

"The current situation is unhelpful. Prospective investors in Northern resource projects face complex, overlapping regulatory regimes and processes that are unpredictable, are hard to understand, they're costly and they're time-consuming," said Strahl. "Companies want to invest where there is certainty and predictability."

Strahl estimates the status quo will cost $15 billion in lost opportunities over the next few years.

The announcement comes two years after the McCrank report, which recommended ways to streamline the Northern regulatory regime.

The plan's second key point is to strengthen environmental stewardship by supporting community-based environmental monitoring. This includes a federal investment of $8 million over two years to the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program and the Nunavut General Monitoring Program.

He added legislative changes will respect land claim agreements and aboriginal people will be meaningfully involved in the regulatory process.

"I hope it will send a very strong message and signal to industry that we're serious about regulatory improvement and we encourage and want companies to invest in the North," said Strahl.

"It doesn't do any good to register those companies and then park that equipment at home. We have to improve the investment climate so that those companies are taking part in it."

NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines president John Kearney said he was pleased to see signs of progress.

"The chamber of mines is pleased to see that there is finally some signs of progress on regulatory improvement," said Kearney. "We look forward to see more details as time goes forward."

John Pollard, a former GNWT finance minister and MLA for Hay River, was named chief federal negotiator. In his new role, he will lead consultations and negotiations with the GNWT and aboriginal leaders on how land and water boards will be structured. This involves amending to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and might involve changes to the Northwest Territories Waters Act and the Territorial Lands Act.

Pollard's appointment is a positive development, said Kearney, who knows him by reputation.

"I think that his appointment is very timely and very important because he is a man, who, I understand, knows the North, knows the people of the North," he said. The Northern Project Management Office, part of CanNor, will co-ordinate federal regulatory work in the territory and track the regulatory process of projects, for instance, focusing on mineral, oil and gas, and pipeline sector projects. Major infrastructure projects will be considered later.

"This is an important step forward to help co-ordinate the federal side of the regulatory process," said Kearney. "If it will improve the system, if it will make it more efficient, then certainly we think it's a good step."