SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The federal government has closed the Yellowknife-based office of the Northern Gas Project Secretariat and will soon be shutting down the Mackenzie Gas Project Office, also based in Yellowknife.

The Mackenzie Gas Project Office on 49 Street will close once the National Energy Board has all the information it needs to proceed with its regulatory ruling on the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project, Environment Canada has stated. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo The other MGP offices The government-staffed Mackenzie Gas Project Office in Yellowknife is not to be confused with the MGP offices run by Imperial Oil in Inuvik, Norman Wells and Fort Simpson, though they share the same moniker. Five staffers hired by Imperial Oil man its three NWT offices, down from an initial workforce of 10. Imperial Oil cut down the total workforce between the three offices in early 2008, citing a decreased amount of work on the project. Staff at the offices answer questions about the project and inform visitors about possible future training programs related to the pipeline, which will create 50 positions during operations. Pius Rolheiser, spokesperson for Imperial Oil, said on Tuesday that no further staff cuts have been made at the company's MGP offices.

The impending closure of the former has prompted one third-party observer to wonder whether the federal government is losing confidence in the proposed $16.2 billion pipeline.

"They pulled the funding for it," said Kevin O'Reilly, a member of Yellowknife social justice group Alternatives North, of the Mackenzie Gas Project Office.

O'Reilly participated during the National Energy Board's final hearing on the pipeline in March, during which he questioned the proponents' claims about the project's economic prospects.

"The feds don't have any confidence this project is going to move ahead ... They don't think this is going anywhere," said O'Reilly on Monday.

The Mackenzie Gas Project Office in Yellowknife "is winding down operations," confirmed Henry Lau, a spokesperson for Environment Canada, via email.

The office, as Lau described it, is responsible for overseeing, coordinating and resolving issues related to the Mackenzie Gas Project.

"Presently it is leading the development of the government's response to the Joint Review Panel report. Once the response has been finalized and approved, the office will close," said Lau.

But Lau added that Imperial Oil's announcement earlier this year that production from the pipeline would likely not start until 2018 also played a hand in the government's decision to shut down the pipeline office.

"In the spring of 2010, the project proponents announced a delay of two more years and since the project is not at a position to move into the permitting phase, federal resources are being allocated accordingly to reflect the current status of the project," he said.

The number of staff at the Yellowknife office and its sister office in Ottawa has shrunk by more than half since it was first established under Environment Canada in 2008.

"During the initial stages of the project there were 19 employees in the Ottawa and Yellowknife Mackenzie Gas Project Offices; however, seven staff remain," said Lau.

The Northern Gas Project Secretariat, which was tasked in 2003 with providing administrative support to the Joint Review Panel during the environmental assessment and regulatory review of the pipeline, ceased operations on Aug. 31.

The office had seven workers in April, according to former executive director Brian Chambers.

The secretariat handled communications for the quasi-judicial panel, which released its long awaited report on the pipeline in December but is still involved in the regulatory process.

After a procedural delay that spanned several weeks, the panel has been asked by the federal government to submit its written comments regarding proposed changes to its pipeline recommendations by Monday.

After that, the federal government and the GNWT will send their final response to the JRP report to the National Energy Board, which will ultimately rule on whether the pipeline should proceed.

Secretariat offices in Inuvik, Norman Wells and Fort Simpson – where the total number of staff often varied – have also been closed, said Lau.

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