NUNAVUT
It's a long way from Nunavut to the big cities in Ontario, but Premier Peter Taptuna is making sure people see him.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, Premier Peter Taptuna and Terry Adula of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami speak at the Economic Club of Canada panel discussion in Ottawa Feb. 3. - photo courtesy of Premier Peter Taptuna

The territory's head official has been actively participating in events down south to discuss the economic challenges and opportunities in his area. After a panel discussion held in Ottawa early February, Taptuna is heading to Toronto later this spring for a talk specifically about Nunavut.

The premier told News/North the appointments are important because there's still a major lack of awareness and knowledge about what's happening in the North.

"In Nunavut, it's always a struggle for our communities and the government to get anything done economically, due to the high cost of doing business up here," he said.

Taptuna said the goal is to make Nunavut more attractive for investment, especially in the area of mineral extraction.

"We're following very closely what the government is doing in terms of tax credit incentives for exploration and extraction companies to do business with aboriginal companies in the North," he said.

Recently, Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford announced the federal government is proposing to extend the five per cent Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for investors in flow-through shares for an additional year, until March 31, 2016. It was scheduled to expire at the end of this month.

Flow-through shares are a method of financing by Canadian junior mining firms whereby exploration expenses are passed onto individual investors, who can then apply them to their own personal incomes and reduce their own taxes. Canadian rules also require funds raised through flow-through shares must be spent within 24 months.

During the same announcement on March 1 at the Prospectors and Developers' Association of Canada conference in Toronto, the federal government also announced proposed changes in regard to costs associated with undertaking environmental studies and community consultations required to obtain an exploration permit. According to the news release, "these will now be eligible for treatment as Canadian Exploration Expenses (CEE), would be immediately deductible for tax purposes and also be eligible for flow-through share treatment." Eligible projects could also qualify for the 15% Mineral Exploration Tax Credit.

Both items will definitely be a source of discussion at the upcoming Mining Symposium being held in Iqaluit from April 13 to 16. "We're hoping to attract new companies to Nunavut through the event," the premier said.

Still, Taptuna acknowledged there are multiple challenges that have to continually be addressed in his presentations with industry, government and business leaders with limited experience in the North. The high cost of airline travel due to limited infrastructure is consistently a major topic of discussion.

"It's not like you can drive your car or produce or supplies on a road to a certain location," he said, "To tell you the truth, there's still a lot of southerners that are quite surprised that way."

He pointed out the time needed for a mineral company to progress from discovery to extraction is also much longer than the experience of southern sites in Canada or even South America.

"Compared to up here, it's just a nap," Taptuna said.