Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 16th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Mr. Bagnell also mentioned that there would be some termination of that existing benefit, or it was going to expire at some point.

[Pamela Strand]

Yes, the flow-through and the super flow-through do have expiry dates.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

So these are provisions in the income tax code you're referring to?

[Pamela Strand]

Yes. So it's our position to have those renewed. I'm not sure when the next expiry date is.

Do you know, Claire?

[Claire Derome]

I think it has been reallocated for next year, so we know that 2010 is.... It's quite short term.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Okay, I see that. That explains it.

I have a little bit of time left here. Could each of the four representatives here today provide a brief comment on what your best advice would be to the committee if we were to undertake a closer examination of the issues around economic development in the north? What would you say would be the most important gap we could focus on that would give the greatest benefit in terms of our examinations of that issue?

Who would like to begin? Mr. Ottenbreit?

[Randy Ottenbreit]

I will begin.

Thinking back to the opening remarks of all the parties, if there was a common theme, it was the challenges associated with the regulatory process. I think that's a very fruitful area for improvement as a common theme in terms of all of our opening remarks. So that would be my suggestion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Mr. Peters.

[Mike Peters]

I would agree with Mr. Ottenbreit, certainly from an association perspective. When considering the challenges in the north, we believe that's one of the fundamental challenges holding back further development in the north and one where we see opportunity for improvement.

[Scott Kent]

From the Yukon perspective, as Claire and I have both mentioned before, we have had devolution in the Yukon since 2003 and have had a very positive experience with that on the regulatory and the decision-making side of things, having the deputy minister and the minister and the decision-makers reside right in the Yukon. So from our perspective, land use planning seems to be our concern right now, and I know our colleagues with the NWT and Nunavut Chamber share some of those concerns.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Would you go so far as to say that there certainly could be some lessons taken from the Yukon experience in respect of this regulatory reform issue?

[Scott Kent]

I think the new regulatory regimes, the YESAA and hopefully the regulation of the Alaska Highway pipeline project, have learned some lessons from our predecessors in the Mackenzie Valley with their pipeline and that act. We were able to take the YESAA legislation, which I have some experience with, and improve upon it based on some of the hard lessons learned in the Mackenzie Valley.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

All right. And finally....

[Pamela Strand]

I guess we believe that we already have a lot of the recommendations in place through the McCrank report, and we think that some of those recommendations should be followed through on. A lot of the recommendations don't require any changes in legislation. We really haven't seen a lot of action on those recommendations since the middle of last year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you very much.

Now we will go to Mr. Bagnell for five minutes.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you.

You all mentioned power. One way you could help out, actually, and it wouldn't cost you anything, is we've been lobbying for a special increased wind incentive for the north. In the south, where it's seven cents a kilowatt-hour, if you add one cent, then it's a significant proportion. But in the north, where it's thirty cents and you get a one-cent incentive, it doesn't do anything. So we need a higher incentive in the north.

My question for the Yukon delegation is about placer mining, which you mentioned briefly in your opening remarks. Are you happy with the federal regime in placer mining, and is there anything you would like the federal government to do to make sure placer mining continues to exist as a very viable and important industry in the Yukon?

[Claire Derome]

I think it's important that the federal government continue to support the Placer Secretariat. There was dwindling support there, but it's really a place where all parties can come to the table to monitor the effect of that regime on the industry. So support there is important.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

On the pipeline, I think you alluded to this, but I want to make absolutely sure. There would be no problem with anyone putting gas into the MacKenzie Valley pipeline in the big fields to the east and west in the Yukon, and to the east in the Northwest Territories. There'd be room for all the different local pots of gas.

[Randy Ottenbreit]

We designed the capacity to accommodate additional gas. The economics are such that the more gas, the better for everyone. We have defined terms under which other natural gas could be transported through the pipeline. So there is room, and we look forward to additional volumes of gas.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Sometimes people think the two biggest industries in the north are tourism and mining, at least in the Yukon. Some people think they're incompatible, but in the Yukon there's an exciting arrangement where the Chamber of Mines has signed an agreement with the Tourism Industry Association of the Yukon. Maybe you could let people know about that as a best practice.

[Claire Derome]

That agreement was signed last fall. It's been tested with the current land use planning process, but it has provided the opportunity to maintain a dialogue between the two industries. Basically it's a cooperative memorandum of understanding where the parties bring their issues to the table and discuss them before hitting the paper. They try to find common ground.

The Klondike is still very much part of what we are in the Yukon. It's now driving a lot of the tourism industry in Dawson, but it's still also part of what we do for a living by placer mining. I think it's something to look at there. If you were going to look at cooperation between tourism and mining, maybe you could look at the Yukon as an example.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Can you talk about what the federal government could do to help with ports and navigation in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? Are there sufficient navigation aids to get your ships and supplies up there, which of course is cheaper than flying? Secondly, are there any ports for you to land at, and would you like help there?

[Lou Covello]

I pointed out in my talk that Nanisivik, which had a lead-zinc mine that produced from 1974 to 1998, I believe, has recently been designated by the federal government as a fuel resupply facility. The town and the port facility will be re-occupied. They're still connected to the runway that was built partway between Nanisivik and Arctic Bay.

As far as port facilities are concerned, the best thing to do, as Pam said, is encourage exploration in the far north. We'll see new mines found and new developments, and it won't cost the people of Canada an awful lot of money. It will be paid for by industry.

The other initiative that the mining industry has taken on is the BIPAR. It's the Bathurst Inlet-Contwoyto Lake plan to take ore concentrate from the Izok Lake lead-zinc deposit, which is one of the richest in Canada, to a deepwater facility on Bathurst Inlet.

The northern coast of Canada, particularly the eastern part of it, has abundant ability to support ports. There's a lot of deep water.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We'll have to wrap it up there, Mr. Covello.

We'll now go to Mr. Weston.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

I'll defer to my more senior member.