Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 26th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. MacKay.

[William MacKay]

From the Government of Nunavut's point of view, obviously we support the participation of the permanent participants in the Arctic Council. That was a key part of the foundation—

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Speak specifically to the resources.

[William MacKay]

Also we support the declarations that the ICC has made with respect to resource development in the north.

That being said, support should also come with some sort of financial support from the federal government. That would be ideal. It's not our decision to make, but we would like to find some solutions so that the permanent participants can make a full contribution to the Arctic Council.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. Hayden.

[Terry Hayden]

Thank you.

The Government of Yukon as well would support and encourage resources to allow permanent participation. We would recognize that perhaps the discussion would have to be with those who are participating with regard to what those resources might look like.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Just a quick response from Mr. Bevan....

[Andy Bevan]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bevington.

Yes, very quickly, the GNWT is very supportive of permanent participants' role in the Arctic Council. We think that is actually one of the unique strengths of the Arctic Council. With respect to resourcing permanent participants internationally or otherwise, we support Canada's position that permanent participants should be sufficiently resourced so that they can engage in it and ensure that their preparations for engagement are effective.

From a territorial perspective, Mr. Bevington, I can certainly articulate the northern premiers' interest in working with the permanent participants and the value they place in that relationship, which features very prominently in their thinking. The northern premiers meet annually with the Canadian representatives of the permanent participants prior to each of the annual northern premiers forums.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We're going to turn it over to the government side.

Mr. Dechert, for seven minutes.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to each of our presenters for sharing all of this important information with us.

Each of you has spoken about economic development. Mr. Hayden said that Canada's north is open for business. I wonder if you could give us your views on whether you think the creation of a formal circumpolar business forum would be useful for showing best practices in economic and resource development in the region. That would be a business council that would be populated by business people from throughout the Arctic region and all the member states of the Arctic Council.

Perhaps we could start with Mr. MacKay. Give me your views on that, and we'll go to each of the other speakers as well.

[William MacKay]

There already are interactions between different chambers of commerce in the north on best practices in business development in the north, given the region's particular, unique nature. The more formal structure would probably be useful.

From Nunavut's point of view, we do share best business practices with, for example, Greenland. That's on an ad hoc basis. I think that probably some sort of permanent structure would be useful in terms of economic development.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

I'd like to go to each of the others.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. Bevan.

[Andy Bevan]

Thank you, Mr. Dechert.

I think it would be fair to say that we understand that this is a proposal and something that's supported by Minister Aglukkaq. I don't think I know enough about the proposal at this point in time to state a clear position on it on GNWT's behalf. Having said that, certainly we're looking forward to working with Minister Aglukkaq and her team in developing not only that proposal but also some of the other priorities the minister is proposing that Canada champion during its chairpersonship.

As a general observation, certainly given the importance of economic development and the need for strategic investments in economic development throughout the north, we certainly are always interested in hearing from industry what their needs are and the kind of recommendations they may or may not have on the types of investments required to strengthen our respective economies.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. Hayden.

[Terry Hayden]

Thank you.

Certainly a circumpolar business forum that presents an opportunity to bring focus and attention to Canada's north would be welcome. As an example, the Yukon currently participates in a Pacific Northwest Economic Region group, consisting of the western provinces, ourselves, the GNWT, and a lot of the Pacific northwest states. We find that it's very helpful to join together as a region and promote ourselves and our current interests in the Pacific northwest. I would see an opportunity to do the same for Canada's north.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you very much.

My next question is for Mr. Hayden.

Mr. Hayden, you mentioned the federal government's policy of recognizing the importance of the north, both as part of Canada's territory and as part of Canada's economic and foreign affairs face to the world.

Could you tell us, in your view, what has been the impact of the change in focus of the federal government towards the north and, of course, the frequent visits of the Prime Minister to the north? What impact would you say that has had on your region?

[Terry Hayden]

I would respond from a couple of different perspectives. The Yukon is positioned quite close to the Pacific Rim, so of course we do a lot of international investment attraction. Internationally, there's a strong recognition of Canada's acknowledgement of the importance of the north. As a result of Canada paying attention to the north, other countries have confidence in investing in the north because they know that they're not only dealing with the territory but also that they have the backing of Canada as well.

It's the same thing with regard to those who are already in the Yukon. For instance, with the increased attention that we see from the various visits and the discussions that are taking place from the federal government departments and the elected officials, it brings a confidence to those who are already here to continue to invest and develop their businesses and organizations.

So it's twofold: it brings Canada's north onto a global stage and, in terms of the territory itself, it brings us the confidence to be able to continue to invest over the long term, because we know that we have the support of Canada.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you very much for that.

I have two questions for Mr. Bevan.

Mr. Bevan, you mentioned a very interesting project, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, in your opening remarks. I haven't heard too much about that. I wonder if you could just give us an update on the status of that project and when you expect it to be completed.

Secondly, you mentioned that your government is currently undertaking a mapping of resources within the Northwest Territories. I wonder if you could tell us how that project is being done. We heard from a company that is headquartered in my city of Mississauga, Ontario, a few weeks ago, Gedex Inc., which is using gravity-based mapping technology in aircraft flying over the territories to help map the resources there. Perhaps you could tell us how you're doing it and what the economic benefits of that are to the Northwest Territories.

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

[Andy Bevan]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Dechert.

With respect to the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the reference I made in my opening remarks was actually a little more specific. It was about a portion of what we hope will be part of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Tuktoyaktuk all the way down to, obviously, the 60th parallel. Portions of that highway obviously already exist. Portions of it are open on a seasonal basis. Then there are in fact large swaths where there isn't a highway at all to date.

The reference in my opening remarks was to the section of the highway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, which will in fact connect Canada truly from coast to coast to coast, once you take the existing Dempster Highway into consideration. That stretch of road presently doesn't exist, and in fact you're not able to drive to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. That I understand is—

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Excuse me, but I just want to ask, for our purposes, what's the distance that needs to be spanned that's not yet completed?

[Andy Bevan]

I fear I'm not going to be too, too helpful in that regard. I don't have the specifics at hand, Mr. Dechert. I wouldn't want to mislead you, but I think we're talking in excess, or in the region, of about 150 kilometres. I'd be happy to confirm that for the committee at a future point.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

I'm just wondering, Mr. Chair, if he could just briefly address the mapping services of the resources.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We're going to have to come back for maybe one quick intervention after Mr. Eyking.

Mr. Eyking, sir, the floor is yours for seven minutes.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Thank you, Chair.

Folks, thank you for coming.

Your three regions represent a vast part of our world, not just of our country. When you look at the size, it's probably the size of Europe and half of Russia together. What happens on this globe in the future is going to have a tremendous impact, and you people all alluded to it.

On the environmental side, many of you already talked about the effect of increased activity, including on the species you have in your regions. We know that the Europeans are very strong on what they are doing regarding climate change. We see from President Obama's state of the union address where he's going in the next four years. He's going to be making his mark on the environment and he's going to be very strong on that.

That being said, I have a concern. We're going to be chairing this council and the next council is going to be chaired by the Americans. Are we maybe being set up here, or could we be in a position where we're going to be wedged, where we might end up being perceived as a little bit hypocritical about our intentions and what we're really trying to do in the north, where these other players might be way ahead of us or pushing for stronger changes on preventing further climate change?

Is there any concern on your part about that, that we might not be going there with strong enough cards, that as the chair we might not be looking at putting forward strong enough proposals on reducing climate change?

Each of you, be quick because I have another question.