Evidence of meeting #23 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
That's correct.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
What deficiencies now exist there in charting, navigational aids, lighting, and those types of things? I'm just trying to get a sense, because in talking to people in this area, that type of infrastructure should be an area of concentration as well.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
You're absolutely right. There are a lot of things that go into the knowledge base that helps you understand whether and where shipping is actually possible. The company has spent a great deal of money. During that 2008 season it spent about $5 million on bathymetric surveys measuring the depth of water in the Steensby Inlet area, which is where our port would be built.
There is more bathymetric work required. That is something we feel could very easily be done working with coast guard vessels or government programs to do the mapping. I guess we see the mapping as a bit of a federal responsibility. There are certainly ways we can work with the government on that.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
There are none. They would have to be put in place. Peter may know more about this than I do. A lot of the equipment is electronic. It's much smaller than it used to be. It's a matter of picking your points and setting your beacons. A lot of thought needs to be put to it as well.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
I understand that will depend on the routing and that type of thing.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
That's right.
Liberal
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
That's right. Fortunately for us the Voisey's Bay mine is in the Hudson Strait. They've been shipping in and out of there for a number of years now. That would be the entry point for us to come up into Steensby Inlet. Very good knowledge of shipping already exists because of that Voisey's Bay project.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
I'm quite familiar with Voisey's Bay, of course, being from Labrador. I'd say they have to do a bit more charting. You must be 800 miles or more by ship from the area you're going to be shipping from.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation
That's right.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
Can you just fill us in, Mr. Mackey, on the power situation?
We're at a dollar a kilowatt, and in Labrador we're used to diesel-generated stations as well. A lot of our communities still have them and the high rates. Our provincial government subsidizes the domestic or household use of them, but there's no compensation for commercial users.
How is your rate system set up? How much of a subsidization is there for domestic and commercial users?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Qulliq Energy Corporation
I'm from Labrador myself, so I'm familiar with your area. Certainly I've worked in Labrador hydro.
From a subsidy perspective, residential customers have a subsidy, and it's seasonal. During the summer months, the first 700 kilowatt hours have a subsidy applied to them. Then, in the winter months, the first 1,000 kilowatt hours have a subsidy applied to them.
Nobody in the north pays the actual cost, their true cost of electricity or heating or anything. It's all heavily subsidized by the GN, the Government of Nunavut. The cost of energy is paid somewhere around the vicinity of 75% to 80% by GN in the north—that's heating and electricity—because the GN is one of the largest consumers as well.
Commercial customers pay a subsidized rate, but nowhere near what the residential customers have. The only other subsidy available to them is that small companies can apply to the Government of Nunavut, if they demonstrate that the costs for their businesses are in the $1 million to $2 million range. They're able to apply for a subsidy for their electrical costs for the year from the GN.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
As a note, our researcher just found out that the population of Nanisivik in 2001, in the census, was 77—which I must admit is a little bit bigger than Williams Harbour, where I come from.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Qulliq Energy Corporation
Right now, it's zero. We run a power plant of three small engines in Nanisivik for the runway, which is utilized by Arctic Bay until the Government of Nunavut gets its airport up and running in Arctic Bay. So the population is zero in Nanisivik.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
I'm going to take the next question for the government slot. I have a couple of questions.
Mr. Blake, in your comments you mentioned that you're active in the Yukon. Have you had any work in either of the other two territories?
President, Icefield Instruments Inc.
Yes. We have shipped products to the Northwest Territories.
It's a bit of an interesting situation. In that case, our clients are in the mining industry. The head offices of those companies are located in Vancouver and Toronto primarily, and we make our contacts through trade shows in southern Canada. The projects then go in the summertime.
In terms of shipping, actually we have air carrier connections between the Yukon and the territories. The problem is shipping westward into Alaska. We really can't access that market easily because of the border issues.
President, Icefield Instruments Inc.
It's simply that I guess the quantity of goods crossing the border by air is so low that the air carriers that fly between the Yukon and Alaska won't carry freight.
In shipping things by road, we're relying on long-distance truckers to stop in Whitehorse and pick up a small parcel and take that over the border, and they charge a phenomenal rate for that service. So really the only solution for us is to ship things to Seattle and then back up, which of course produces time delays.
In mining, it's often a time-sensitive thing. Somebody has a breakdown of equipment and we're trying to ship replacement parts, and the shipment takes four days instead of one.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Okay.
I realize it's principally your customers who are the ones involved in actually doing core samples and the like. Based on the feedback that you've received from them, do you have any comment on the differences in regulatory regimes they face in terms of their work?
I realize that most of your customers will be working after geosurvey, after geomapping is done. They'd actually be at the site doing this sampling. Do I have that correct?
