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Sunday 05.02.2012

Help us develop, NWT's premier says

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland says he hopes Prime Minister Stephen Harper will commit to further developing the North's economic and social potential when he visits the NWT this week.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper travels to the western Arctic on Thursday, Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland says he hopes Harper will commit to further developing the North's economic and social potential.

Harper will arrive in Yellowknife late Thursday afternoon, as part of a five-day tour of Canada's three northern territories that began in Iqaluit on Monday.



Roland said northerners will want to know what commitments he will make on social and economic development, tackling issues such as the high cost of living.

"Having sustainable communities only makes our claim to [Arctic] sovereignty more legitimate," he told CBC News in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

"So when you invest in things like our economy and our infrastructure that helps with the cost of living … then you're really investing in the sovereignty of the country."

Roland did applaud Harper's announcement Tuesday about a new stand-alone regional economic development agency being created in the North.

That agency will be based in Iqaluit, with satellite offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse.

Roland said he hopes northerners will make the big decisions related to the agency, not just officials from southern Canada.

"It's one thing to have the agency in place, but it is more importantly how will they include northerners in that decision-making process," he said. "For years, the North has been looked at as sort of the backyard of the country. It's our front yard. We see the areas that we can see investment. We feel that we have our hands on the pulse when it comes to trying to develop our economies, which create those sustainable communities."