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What's missing now that city council is acknowledging the downtown district energy plan is in ashes is an admission from its cheerleaders of the colossal mistakes made pursuing it.

Some of these pom-pom wavers are still on council - Bob Brooks, Cory Vanthuyne, and our new mayor Mark Heyck.

When Yellowknifer asked individual city councillors to identify the benefits - and risks - of district energy in the lead up to the March 2011 referendum, none of the aforementioned councillors would identify actual risks. In fact, the closest any of them came to offering anything other than a glowing endorsement of the project was Heyck's insistence that any risks "can be mitigated through careful planning and due diligence."

Well, city taxpayers should thank their lucky stars then because it is quite apparent after speaking with some of Yellowknife's largest property owners last week that due diligence went out the window as fast as city councillors clambered aboard the district energy bandwagon.

Had a majority of residents not voted "no" in the referendum, city hall would have had free rein to spend $49 million on a district energy system that had no discernible business plan.

Oh, there were studies. Reams of them. The city acknowledges it spent $787,000 in 2011 on district energy, mostly on designing a system to convert biomass into heat. Yellowknifers will likely never know the true cost of staff time and travel that was put into this scheme.

What was missing was a solid business case to take to the owners of the 39 downtown properties the city had hoped to sign on as its customers. That was the case before the referendum, and it was the case afterward when private partner Corix Utilities was brought on board to bail out the city's sinking dreams of tapping Con Mine for geothermal energy.

A year after the city signed an agreement-in-principle with Corix, downtown property owners were still wondering what it would cost for them to sign on, and whether it was still a geothermal project or just district energy with a central heating unit.

Representatives with Dundee Real Estate Investment Trust, one of the largest commercial property owners in Canada and owner of five buildings in Yellowknife, said they never heard back from the city after being given a presentation on district energy last spring.

Heyck entered office with a pledge to open the lines of communication, but all he has offered on district energy to date are platitudes and defence of administration.

Successfully communicating a vision to the public requires testing your methods publicly. This newspaper has stated numerous times that we were never against the concept of supplying heat to downtown buildings with central heat, and augmenting that with geothermal energy from Con Mine - if that proved possible.

But the city has never been able to answer questions to anyone's satisfaction, particularly when it came to expenses and money . That is why it has suffered one humiliating defeat after another on district energy. Now it is as dead as the Con energy link on the city website's home page and the people to be held accountable are those city councillors who joined the choir of environmental evangelism instead of asking the tough questions people expected them to ask.

And now, once again, administration is leading council around with a $14-million carrot from Ottawa, even as some councillors complain about the lack of time or information to consider the proposal.

They should beware the headlong rush made by those before them, and the old adage: you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't admit them.

The Christmas season is upon us.

If you're reading this paper on Thursday, Christmas is only six days away. The arrival of the holiday season is heralded in many ways in the Deh Cho.

In some communities, Christmas bazaars are a sign the holiday is just around the corner. In other communities, it's the sight of Christmas lights on houses and trees that really kick starts the Christmas spirit.

Around the Deh Cho, schools are also doing their part by holding Christmas concerts. Whether they are big or small productions, weeks of planning go into them.

Some recent events that involved the holiday spirit included a Family Literacy Christmas Special in Fort Liard, a Christmas parade in Fort Simpson and the Deh Gah Christmas Sled Dog Race in Fort Providence. In some communities there used to be a tradition of dogsled races around the holidays so it is nice to see them making a comeback.

While people are rushing to get last-minute Christmas presents, finishing off holiday grocery shopping and putting up last-minute decorative touches, it's important to remember what the season is all about. In many ways Christmas is about spending time with family and friends and being grateful for the things we have even as we hope to get more things under the tree on Christmas morning.

At this time of the year it's important to spend a bit of time thinking about others.

There are a variety of ways this can be done. It can be as easy as donating food to a local organization that runs a food bank or makes Christmas hampers. It can also take the form of donating gently-used toys or winter clothes that your family no longer needs.

Sometimes the gift of time is all that is needed. The holidays are a terrible time to be alone. People can take a bit of time to visit a local elder who maybe doesn't receive many visitors. Bringing along a ready-cooked meal or Christmas dessert would be an added gift.

The holiday spirit, after all, is about more than creating wishlists and hoping for presents.

Christmas is about sharing with others what you are fortunate enough to have and what they may be without. If everyone took a bit of time over this holiday season to do something for someone else without thought of recognition or repayment, it will make Christmas that much brighter in the Deh Cho.

For the past week, nearly everywhere I went someone brought up the issue of East 3 School's parking lot. I spent hours listening to people talk about what needs to be done and what should have been done. I heard some solutions that sounded good and some that were interesting, but ultimately every discussion came back to the fact that traffic signs haven't been put up.

It's a good point. There is no denying the Department of Public Works should have been on top of the issue and the signs should have been in place before school started.

That said, at the end of the day I don't think it will solve the root of the problem, which is that the parking lot is currently too small to accommodate all the staff, the elementary kids and the high school students at East 3.

Once Samuel Hearne is torn down and another entrance is added to the lot, the problem will hopefully resolve itself. In the interim, parents, staff, the Inuvik District Education Authority (IDEA) and the town need to figure out how to deal with the situation.

Let me stress that this isn't just on the shoulders of the IDEA or the town. This is a community issue and we all need to do our part before someone gets hurt.

For parents, taking action can be as easy as sitting your child down over the holiday and going over road safety one more time. Then, in the new year, drivers should remind themselves to be especially careful while in that area.

I think part of the reason why the parking lot situation didn't rear its ugly head during the first week of school wasn't because the RCMP was there to direct traffic – it was simply because they were there.

Just the presence of a police officer encourages people to be extra safe. For example, if you're driving 20 km/h over the speed limit when you see a police vehicle, what do you do? You slow down.

So let's all think of the school zone that same way. When you see East 3, slow down and be on your best behaviour.

I think the IDEA also really needs to consider creating a safety patrol. Mind you, I know the idea is on its radar and the authority is looking into the liability issues related to such an endeavour. I just hope that it happens, for a number of reasons: one, it will make the parking lot safer; two, it gives students some responsibility; and three, it hammers home the importance of safety.

The proposal for a carbon tax in the NWT is more about feeling good about making some sort of effort to "save the planet" than really accomplishing something.

But there are many more reasons why using this method in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is ridiculous.

Talk of imposing a carbon tax on Yellowknifers, as proposed to the GNWT by Ecology North, is little more than a symbolic gesture toward being environmentally responsible. In reality, however, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the territory is negligible.

And increasing the price of fuel, in hopes of encourage the motoring public and industry to conserve gasoline, will not be accepted by many Yk residents when one considers the price is already more than $1.38 per litre for regular grade. We suggest most consumers already keep a close eye on their gas gauges and are mindful of wasteful usage. The same might not be said for government employees who leave fleet vehicles running because there is no money coming out of their own pockets, but internal policy could address that.

Also problematic is the costly and burdensome administration that would surely accompany the establishment of a carbon tax regime. Residents are already doing their part by paying recycling fees on such things as plastic milk containers and shopping bags.

Ecology North's Doug Ritchie is correct with his assertion that people don't understand what a carbon tax is, how it would work and are leery of it because it contains the word "tax."

Nobody wants another tax, even if it's supposed to be revenue-neutral. The idea is that money would be collected based on the amount of carbon consumed, then returned in the form of tax reductions or rebates.

We think the territorial government could realize real gains by focusing efforts on reducing dependency on diesel-generated electricity and continue exploring alternative sources of energy.

There has already been some success with hydro and wood pellet boilers. Wind turbines are showing real promise at Diavik Diamond Mine. Continuing down that road would not only do more for the planet than charging consumers, it would also save us money. That's the "win-win" that we could all get behind.

In the 1930s, Yellowknife was a remote gold mining town that nonetheless offered a number of social groups to keep miners entertained between shifts.

In 1938, a group of 15 women, community-minded pioneers, organized the Daughters of the Midnight Sun as a creative outlet that not only amused their peers but raised money for charity.

Known for their vaudeville variety shows held twice a year at the Elks Club, the women would use audacious humour to satirize icons and issues of the day. The biggest personalities earned the biggest gags on stage. When politicians debated legalizing prostitution, the Daughters lined up for their licences during one of their skits.

They sold plenty of tickets for their shows by organizing a longest-day-of-the-year pub crawl, in which they dressed in costume and cajoled patrons and proprietors into donating to their worthy causes.

Proceeds from ticket sales and raffles helped pay to ship oranges and candies to NWT communities at Christmas, support foster children and anonymously supply heating oil to Yellowknife families in need, among other compassionate initiatives. Offstage, the women who made up the group, which entertained residents into the 1980s, were community leaders who organized grassroots projects that reflected their charitable values.

The memory of the spirit and hard work of the Daughters of the Midnight Sun is rightly being honoured by a contemporary collective of entertainers and engaged community leaders in the form of an upcoming multimedia show titled Women of the Midnight Sun.

Residents who remember the antics of the original Daughters of the Midnight Sun and younger or more recent residents who are curious about these petticoat-wearing legends should attend this performance when it premieres at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in February.

In the meantime, residents can pay homage to the spirit of these entertaining volunteers by making a donation to a charitable group this holiday season.

With this being the final edition of Kivalliq News for 2012, I'd like to, at the risk of offending thousands, wish everyone across the Kivalliq a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2013.

It promises to be a special holiday season for me, because I'm off to spend Christmas in my original hometown for the first time in 16 years.

I look forward to serving the best little region in Canada again in the new year.

But, it's looking less likely I will find the one present I asked Santa for under my tree on Dec. 25.

While I can accept the fact chances for an NHL season this year are slipping away, I can't accept the reasoning being put forward by those who stubbornly support the players in this mess.

To those people: please, I know some mean-well fanatical doctor somewhere will gasp at a suggestion that could lead to a spike in concussions, but give your collective heads a shake.

Not only are your lines about the poor players only having a few years to make their money old, they simply no longer hold water.

The vast majority of today's NHLers bank more money by the time they reach their mid-20s than the average working person would make in three lifetimes.

So let's put that one to bed once and for all, OK?

The NHLPA sent the message it was looking for a fight when it hired Donald Fehr as its executive director and a fight is what it's in.

Fehr is all about union idealism, but the NHLPA isn't a union and shouldn't be referred to as such.

The NHLPA is an association of mostly multi-millionaires who, individually, more closely resemble private contractors than anything else.

The players should have taken notice of the standing ovation Fehr received from a group of Canadian auto workers recently, and asked themselves where most new car plants are opening these days.

In a far-too-uncomfortable parallel of auto-industry dynamics, the NHL brought in a record $3.3 billion in revenue this past season, yet the majority of its clubs would be on the brink of bankruptcy in the real world.

Former Hockey Night In Canada producer John Shannon did the math recently and had to be revived after seeing the numbers staring back at him.

Averaging $2.4 million in salaries, the vast majority of players made more than most NHL clubs this past season.

Astounding!

Is it any wonder NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is actually showing emotion with his anger and frustration over Fehr's negotiating, and I use the term lightly, tactics?

And he's not alone.

It's one thing for players to tisk, tisk the NHL's nine or 10 hawkish owners who would love to bust their 'union,' but when you alienate moderates such as Pittsburgh's Ron Burkle, Tampa Bay's Jeff Vinik, Toronto's Larry Tanenbaum and Winnipeg's Mark Chipman, you've dug a very deep trench on your side of the negotiating table.

The NHL business model is broken due to greed and stupidity, and both sides are equally to blame for the current situation.

Unfortunately, only one side is trying to smarten up and that's not the players.

They continue to act like a bunch of turkeys as the holidays approach, with Fehr in the process of serving them up on a not-so-silver platter!

Whether you believe in the merits of alcohol restrictions, they are a reality in the NWT and that's why a recent decision by Whati's band council is so important.

Whati councillors recently approved a Councillors Conduct Bylaw that would allow the First Nation to punish councillors who are found in violation of the community's liquor ban. Those found guilty could lose money they receive through a council honorarium.

There are already criminal laws in place for such an incident but council's decision sends a clear message: it has chosen to be a leader not only by popular vote but by example.

Alcohol fuels social ills throughout NWT communities. Police report alcohol as a factor in a majority of crimes, ranging from assault to homicide. It is also the primary cause of accidental deaths, including some on the land and water.

Many argue banning alcohol merely opens the door to bootleggers who prey financially on people, some of them already struggling to make ends-meet. Nevertheless, communities that have chosen to impose bans and restrictions have done so through a plebiscite and those decisions should be respected.

Alfonz Nitsiza, Whati's chief, says alcohol consumption has not been an issue with the council of the day and the bylaw is an effort for the aboriginal government to be proactive and send a message. The gesture shows the strength of character of the community's leaders and, as Nitsiza says, be role models.

Whether other governments follow Whati's example is of course their decision, but we commend Whati for its choice to take a public stand.

Perhaps the next time a bootlegger comes knocking council's choice to publicly say 'no' will give others the strength to do the same in private.

Energy in the North is expensive. That's not a revelation and neither is the fact that those prices will continue to rise as the cost of diesel increases.

Another Northern reality is not only do many communities struggle for employment but much of our economy is dependent on non-renewable resources such as mining and oil and gas.

However, a new industry expected to take root near Enterprise next summer and begin operations by 2014 is well placed to take a bite out of both those problems.

Brad Mapes recently received GNWT approval to begin construction of a wood pellet mill.

Not only will the industry, which is based on a renewable resource, create an estimated 150 jobs, it has the power to reduce energy costs and spark spinoff businesses, especially if wood pellet heating systems grows across the territory.

Presently, biomass heating is one of the most cost-effective forms of alternative energy. The GNWT has employed 11 such systems to displace more than 2.4 million litres of diesel and 6,500 tonnes of greenhouse gasses over the past five years.

Inuvik and Norman Wells are prime examples of why renewable sources of power are vital in the North. We do not have access to the national power grid, nor alternative lines to tap into natural gas.

Wind turbines are another option finally offering promise in the North. Diavik Diamond Mine has spent $30 million on four 2.3 megawatt wind turbines. The mining company is reporting wind is providing 25 per cent of its power, with a goal of reaching 40 per cent.

Northerners need reliable and consistent power and renewable sources such as wind and biomass might be the answer.

Mapes' mill might be the start of an alternative power movement in the NWT while providing jobs in a renewable sector, helping to diversify the NWT's economy.

Baffinland's Mary River iron ore project has been given the federal go-ahead, and it seems most communities are conditionally supportive.

Last week, Nunavut News/North spoke with municipal representatives in each of the main affected communities, and, despite a few apprehensions due to environmental concerns, everyone spoke of high hopes for the direct and indirect benefits the project can bring - from job opportunities during construction and production to the greater sums of money flowing through their communities, which could boost existing businesses.

In order for Nunavummiut to fully realize these opportunities, here's hoping Baffinland has taken note of Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.'s trials. For one, employee absenteeism had become enough of a problem that Agnico-Eagle hired community representatives and adjusted rotation schedules to help ensure more employees actually show up. It wasn't necessarily an issue of laziness - the Inuit calendar year is different than the Western business calendar. Things such as hunting and fishing seasons need to be taken into account, as these practices are widespread and culturally vital.

The size of this project is unprecedented in the territory. Construction alone is pegged at $4 billion, and will take an estimated four years. To put that in perspective, Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank Mine, near Baker Lake, cost $700 million. The mine life on the main Mary River deposit is estimated at 21 years, and Baffinland may wish to tap into two other deposits.

The benefits are not strictly business-related, either. We live in an age of corporate citizenship. Airlines and other large Northern businesses consistently sponsor community events and projects. Baffinland has already committed to, or begun, several such investments. According to its website, the company has handed out 250 laptops around Baffin Island to high school graduates; Baffinland is helping fund Nunavut Arctic College's environmental technology program; and the company donated $20,000 to Iqaluit's food bank earlier this year.

As well, the Nunavut Impact Review Board's 184 recommendations require Baffinland adopt thorough and exhaustive environmental monitoring initiatives, and adjust operations to minimize impacts on the terrain, water and wildlife. A project of this scope will undoubtedly leave a footprint, but the review board has put in the work to manage this to an impressive degree.

Baffinland has maintained its commitment to training and employing Inuit, but communities - if they aren't already - should actively campaign for their residents to get into the program. Now's the time to hold workshops and introduce residents to what might be expected of them in this new field of work, and start nurturing skillsets. There is even time for students to get a post-secondary education and aim for management.

The more Inuit who use Baffinland to begin a career in resource development, the more potential there will be for Inuit to form their own companies and take development of Nunavut's vast resource riches into their own hands.

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