Power of industry snubbed by GNWTYellowknifer - Wednesday, October 12, 2016
The adversarial approach the territorial government has taken with Northland Utilities shows the GNWT has no real solution to skyrocketing power bills beyond beating up the middle man.
As a subsidiary of ATCO Ltd. - a multi-billion dollar utility company with worldwide projects and nearly 8,000 employees - Northland potentially has far greater ability to bring major projects to life than the GNWT does. ATCO bolstered its position in 2015 by entering into an agreement with Denedeh Investments to make Northland a joint partnership - ensuring jobs and investment stays in the North should the utility remain.
Yet, we are told Premier Bob McLeod won't return phone calls from senior management at ATCO. His office claims it isn't aware Siegfried Kiefer, ATCO's number two on the company's organizational chart, attempted to reach the premier last spring but does admit it rejected a request for a meeting 10 months ago.
The premier's office said it wouldn't be appropriate to meet while arbitration talks continue over the purchase of Northland's assets in Hay River now that the town has opted to go with GNWT-owned NWT Power Corporation to distribute its power.
This is a weak justification at best. At this rate we can expect the drawbridge to remain firmly shut as the GNWT prepares for the final push to drive ATCO out of the territory with the expiry of Northland's contract for Yellowknife coming in 2020.
If the GNWT is really interested in reducing the cost of living in the territory - and the size of its workforce - taking over power distribution is not the answer. ATCO has the financial muscle and expertise to help the territory develop its hydro potential - an avenue of possibilities abandoned by the GNWT after deciding it could not swallow the $1.2 billion price tag to connect the Snare and Taltson hydro dams to the power grid down south with a spur going to the diamond mines.
Rather than viewing Northland as an opportunity to capitalize on industry to help with its infrastructure needs, the GNWT seeks to paint it as the bugbear of high energy costs. Meanwhile, the government fails to explain how buying the utility out - estimated at $180 million territory-wide but bound to be much higher by the time arbitration is done - will help reduce the cost of power.
Partnering up with a major utility company to build power projects is not without risk. Nalcor Energy, the company responsible for building a major dam in Newfoundland that has turned into an $11-billion boondoggle, left its customers on the hook. But leaving power development needs entirely in the hands of the GNWT, when it has already acknowledged it is incapable of delivering, is no answer to the territory's power woes.
Premier McLeod should be the one calling up ATCO and asking what it can deliver. Instead, the NWT has a premier presiding over a government that would rather dig a hole as deep as possible and hope the pile of debt it keeps shoveling into it doesn't reach the top.
Good intentions, but not through distorting factsEditorial Comment by Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News - Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Once again the spin doctors are up to their old tricks and, once again, people are buying into the rhetoric at face value without digging just the tiniest bit deeper.
I have written this before in this space and I'll write it again.
I am a cigarette smoker. I am neither proud of it or ashamed of it. I just am.
I will be the first to dissuade young people from taking up the habit because of the ridiculous amount of money tobacco costs these days.
And I will also be the first to admit if you smoke, it's Russian roulette in how it may affect you in the long term.
However, I will also be the first to jump all over government and lobbyist claims that contain little, if any, truth.
And, please, don't get me started on second-hand smoke. I was a "collector" of international studies on the subject until, poof, they were impossible to obtain anymore.
Well, as least the ones that didn't say what Health Canada wanted them to.
Health Canada is pushing plain packaging on cigarettes with claims it reduces the sales of smokes and the number of youths purchasing tobacco products.
The department has stated on the record that the initiative has had good results in Australia.
Well, that might come as a surprise to Sinclair Davidson, who is a professor of economics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University.
Prof. Davidson says the removal of branding creates the perfect storm of bad policy.
You see, the truth is, the sale of tobacco has gone up in Australia since the initiative was introduced, not down.
And the criminality associated with contraband has increased since the initiative took hold Down Under.
If Mr. Davidson isn't enough to convince you on his own, you don't have to spend too much time in front of your computer to find there has been little impact on the deliveries of tobacco to retailers.
So, cigarettes being sold legally over the counter and even more being sold illegally on the black market.
Yup. Sounds like a successful initiative to me.
Seriously, you have to ask yourself why such an esteemed outfit like Health Canada can't keep it real?
Is it really too much to ask when you're still talking about a LEGAL product?
And, if they can't keep it real, is it so outrageous to ask yourself why not?
It opens the age-old argument on whether not telling the whole truth is the same as lying.
The Cancer Society of Victoria, a stakeholder in study results no doubt, claims a study it commissioned found the majority of 500 smokers claimed their cigarettes were less satisfying without the colourful packaging.
Ummm. OK(?)
Hard to disprove that, unless, of course, you've actually looked at a cigarette pack in the past few years.
Colourful and attractive? Which ones? The poor guy dying on the bed? The guy with the hole in his throat? The ones with the little kids wearing breathing masks?
In reality, it's an initiative making criminals rich, pushing all ages toward the black market, and creating the illusion of government fighting the good fight while it continues to rake in billions of tax dollars on the product.
Yes, let's get more of our youths to stop smoking or never take up the habit to begin with, but let's be honest.
After all, we teach our youth honesty is always the best policy, don't we?
Don't unabashedly bash big businessNorthwest Territories/News North - Monday, October 10, 2016
The benefits of big business - in this case, mining - must be considered when environmentalists call for huge conservation areas.
That was the argument presented in a column by Gary Vivian, president of NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines ("Limiting mining's footprint? Done," News/North, Oct. 3).
While one would expect a person who represents mining concerns to be at odds with any group that would interfere with the capitalist interests of such companies, in this case, he agrees with them.
In fact, Vivian's math shows that mining's footprint in the NWT is actually much smaller than the size of development bans being called for by environmentalists.
"Canada has made international commitments to conserve 17 per cent of the country from development. The egalitarian might say then, 'OK, how about we limit development to the same amount, 17 per cent?'" Vivian wrote.
He continued that the area of the existing mines in the NWT is equal to 0.007 per cent of the territory.
"So with my ridiculously stingy concept to limit our operating mines' footprint to one per cent of the area of the NWT, it means we could have over 100 operating mines!
"So it begs the question then, 'Why do we have to protect so much land from development?' Farming, ranching, forestry, and new cities
aren't huge possibilities, so in much of the NWT, the only development we are going to see is from mining."
While the situation is likely much different in parts of southern Canada, the North has a fantastic opportunity to grow its economy with mineral exploration and mining - providing that is done in co-operation and consultation with indigenous peoples and with respect to jobs and the environment.
The positive impact to the economy - with employed people having money to spend - is crucial to the territory's future prosperity. Not to mention the taxes the companies pay to government. Going forward, the NWT should be reducing its reliance on federal government handouts, not begging for more and more.
Isn't it preferable to see government money at all levels going toward much needed infrastructure projects, rather than to social programs driven by unemployment?
One example, so far, of a positive relationship between indigenous people, the environment and business is the Gahcho Kue diamond mine. During its 12-year lifespan, the territory's newest mine estimates it will generate $5.7 billion in wages and revenues within the Northwest Territories alone.
So before people start talking about one-size-fits-all quotas that will only discourage potential major employers, they need to have a realistic look around this place and realize its potential.
Senator dishonours Inuit experienceNunavut/News North - Monday, October 10, 2016
Nunavut's only Senator seems to have forgotten the people he is representing in Ottawa.
In a Sept. 21 opinion piece for the National Observer, Senator Dennis Patterson said "racism ... is motivating Pauktuutit, Canada's national Inuit women's association, and the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council to condemn" the choice of an Iglulik-born non-Inuk woman, Qajaq Robinson, as a commissioner to the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
We do not doubt that Robinson is qualified for the role. A graduate of Nunavut's Akitsiraq Law School, Robinson is a successful lawyer in Ottawa and her Inuk husband is an RCMP officer on Parliament Hill. She speaks Inuktitut and Patterson points to her work defending the interests of indigenous people.
The problem is not with the appointee, but with Sen. Patterson's belief that he is right to question Pauktuutit's and Qulliit's motives. They are right to want an Inuk commissioner. The four other commissioners are indigenous: a judge from the Mistawasis First Nation in Saskatchewan; a former Quebec deputy minister and activist from the Innu community of Mani Utenam; a Metis law professor - who taught at Akitsiraq - from Saskatchewan; and a First Nations lawyer from Ontario.
Hopefully the Senator can understand why this routine is getting old for Inuit. This is just the latest in a series of inquiries, commissions and councils that has seen Inuit passed over for representation on matters that affect them directly. We saw the same appeals for Inuit representation ignored when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established.
It is not enough for Patterson to "live and hunt with Inuit," the credentials he cites for his own role as a white senator representing an 85 per cent Inuit territory. An examination of the expense disclosure reports on his English-only website shows he has spent almost no time over the past few years in any Nunavut communities other than Iqaluit (he went to Naujaat and Rankin Inlet in 2015 and joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Northern tour to Cambridge Bay and Pond Inlet in 2014).
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Patterson despite appeals from Inuit that he appoint an Inuk following Willie Adams. Continued appointments of non-Inuit to Senate seats, panels of inquiry, and the like perpetuate the colonial narrative, and diminish the work of the people who fought for the establishment of the Inuit territory.
Such appointments tell Nunavummiut there are no Inuit qualified to represent their interests nationally. We hope that even the Senator would acknowledge this is not the case.
Patterson's job in Ottawa is to fight for Inuit. Instead of accusing Inuit organizations of racism, he should be supporting their call for an Inuk commissioner.
When Inuit fight for a seat at the table, Patterson must either get behind that fight, or get out of the way.
Accessible city good for everybody Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 7, 2016
There are leaders and there are followers. When it comes to making Yellowknife more livable for people with disabilities or for our aging community members, it doesn't pay to be a laggard.
The cost of dragging one's heels on accessibility is sometimes expressed in terms of a legal challenge where a complainant wins judgment against the government for its reluctance to adapt.
This is the outcome of a recent pair of cases where a Yellowknife woman won a human rights challenge against the GNWT and the city over a lack of accessibility modifications necessary to accommodate her disability.
Judgments such as these doesn't just acknowledge her rights but the rights of all citizens who live with disabilities whether through accident, disease or the natural aging process.
But a government digging in its heels, aside from needlessly wasting the public purse on lawyers' fees, sends the message that the North is reluctant to adapt to the real, current and future needs of an aging population and people with disabilities.
For many Northerners of retirement age it is an unwelcome prospect to face old age in a community where local governments are not seen to be proactive when it comes to accommodating people with disabilities.
The likeliest response is not to sue the government but simply pull up roots and move away. It would be counter-productive for the North to lose retirement age residents at the same time it is trying to attract new residents.
Last week's public meeting in Yellowknife, moderated by the federal government and the NWT Disabilities Council, was a good but small step forward in making the North more disability and age-friendly.
During that meeting it was suggested that regional disabilities organizations take on a more active role in monitoring and reporting on compliance issues.
While monitoring and reporting are both well and good, municipal and territorial governments need to move beyond what seems to be a get-caught-and-react mentality when it comes to dealing with accessibility. They need to become proactive.
Nearly 14 per cent of the general population lives with some form of disability that affects their daily lives, according to Statistics Canada.
If we don't take care of people with accessibility issues, this segment of the population won't come here and those who are here will leave, taking everything they have invested in the community with them.
Who else deserves city key? Weekend Yellowknifer - Friday, October 7, 2016
It's a tradition going back to medieval times and Yellowknife has started its own version.
Olympic bronze medalist Akeem Haynes was awarded a key to the city - actually a plaque - during a ceremony at the Fieldhouse, Sept. 30. The honour was bestowed on him after a week of visiting schools and talking to students during a trip North to his former home to see his mom and other family members.
Haynes was awarded the key, said Mayor Mark Heyck, not only for his athletic accomplishments but to show appreciation for returning to the city and the time he spent with the youth of the community, encouraging them to follow their dreams like he has done.
Heyck said the key-to-the-city tradition began centuries ago when people were given actual keys to city walls, signifying that the person was welcome any time.
Haynes lived in the city from ages six to 12, going to Weledeh Catholic School while his mother worked multiple jobs to keep food on the table before moving to Calgary. He won bronze in the men's 4x100 relay at the Rio Olympics earlier this summer, posting a new national record of 37.64 seconds.
MLA's proud momentDeh Cho Drum - Thursday, October 6, 2016
It has been less than a year since Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson was elected to his seat, and already his term is looking pretty good.
From expressing a willingness to be a black sheep in the legislative assembly, if need be, to defending the votes he's cast, Thompson's had a solid run so far.
In fact, he hasn't done much wrong yet.
The latest feather in his cap is the opening of Fort Liard's senior housing nine-plex.
Although construction the nine-plex was underway before Thompson was elected to his seat, it is still an important event to mark.
One of Thompson's major campaign points was housing and in particular the need to keep seniors in their communities, where they can enjoy their golden years without having the added stress of being sent to a facility in an unfamiliar location.
It is the best option for the Deh Cho's seniors and it also benefits Fort Liard, where the community reaps the added bonus of having the wisdom of their elders present and available. However, more can be done - and it needs to be, if a statistic from Housing Minister Caroline Cochrane is any indication.
On June 15, Cochrane said the population of seniors within the Northwest Territories is expected to increase as much as 25 per cent within the next five years.
On the same day, Cochrane said the housing corporation currently has 37 public housing units with seniors residing in them in the Nahendeh communities.
Twenty-nine of those units are designed to be accessible to seniors.
Unfortunately, as is usually the case, the smallest communities are impacted the most.
Seniors in Jean Marie River, Kakisa, Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake - even Wrigley, perhaps - do not yet have facilities that would allow them to spend the rest of their lives in their home communities.
It's one more thing on a laundry list of challenges facing the small communities of the Deh Cho and Nahendeh, but this challenge has an incredibly negative impact on the communities that lose their elders, not to mention the elders themselves.
Luckily, Thompson's influence extends to most standing committees as well as the legislative assembly itself. After all, he sits on three of the assembly's five committees - he's a member of the Priorities and Planning Committee as well as the Rules and Procedures Committee and actually chairs the committee on Social Development - and he's an alternate on the Economic Development and Environment committee.
The legislative assembly begins sitting again as of Oct. 13. Without a doubt, Thompson has many different priorities to focus on.
But equal among those priorities is the plight of seniors - and that should not only be a topic of discussion during Senior Citizens' Month.
Fort Liard's nine-plex is a good start. Now it is time to build something for the rest of the Nahendeh.
Poverty has no impact on generosity of spiritInuvik Drum - Thursday, October 6, 2016
When I finished my interview with Richard "Stick" Edwards, a 62-year-old homeless man who has been using the John Wayne Kiktorak Centre since April, I found him stuffing something into my camera bag before I could close it.
He was trying to put in three packages of Dad's Oatmeal cookies, and I didn't know what was going on.
At first, perhaps to my shame, I thought he was playing a joke or offering the centre's goods to me without approval. I thanked him and refused but he wouldn't stop trying to put them in my bag.
"You're going to insult him," centre manager Joey Amos told me, which is when I found out that these three packages of cookies were procured by Edwards and were his property.
This man has very little in material wealth. The cookies were all he appeared to have, besides his clothes.
His only home is the warming centre. And he wasn't trying to give me just one cookie, but all the packages he had.
I gratefully accepted one of the packages, apologizing for any rudeness my first refusal gave off.
It was amazing to see such generosity when an objective look at the situation hardly called for it.
He was admittedly homeless, while I had an expensive camera and voice recorder, drove there in my own car and had just had a haircut. I could obviously afford any cookies I wanted, and he obviously couldn't.
That a person's current status in life has no bearing on human spirit and thoughtfulness was a healthy reminder to me.
The issue of publicly funding homeless shelters is complicated and not one I wish to tackle in this column.
But whatever side of the issue you stand, it is important to remember we are discussing real, wonderful people, not unfortunate statistics.
