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Sunday 05.02.2012

Training, roads, ports announced for NWT, Nunavut

Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper signed three labour market agreements with the three northern territories Thursday, in addition to announcing five major road projects in the Northwest Territories.

Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper signed three labour market agreements with the three northern territories Thursday, in addition to announcing five major road projects in the Northwest Territories.



In Yellowknife late Thursday afternoon, Harper signed what he called "historic" labour market agreements with N.W.T. Premier Floyd Roland, Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak.

"Under these agreements, federal funding will be provided to ensure more northerners get the training and skills they need to obtain good, secure and high-paying jobs," Harper said at the Canadian Forces' northern headquarters in downtown Yellowknife.

The labour market agreements provide funding over five years to help boost the job skills of workers in the North, especially those who Harper said are often excluded from the labour force.

The federal government is spending more than $36.5 million over the next two years toward training and skills development programs in the North, according to a release.

Harper and Fentie also signed a labour market development pact, enabling the Yukon government to develop skills and employment training programs through its employment insurance system.

Similar agreements have already been signed with the N.W.T. and Nunavut, Harper said.

The federal government will also invest in five major highway improvement projects in the N.W.T., with the goal of creating more jobs and stimulating the territory's economy, Harper said.

The largest of the five projects will be the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Dempster Highway, which then prime minister John Diefenbaker launched in 1958 under his Roads to Resources program.

"By opening the Mackenzie Valley to resource development, the Dempster Highway created wealth and opportunity for the Northwest Territories and for all of Canada," Harper said.

"My government is committed to building on The Chief's legacy as part of our northern strategy to assert Canada's Arctic sovereignty and stimulate economic and social development right across the North," invoking Diefenbaker's nickname.

The 735-kilometre highway Dempster Highway runs from Dawson City, Yukon, to Inuvik, N.W.T., crossing the Arctic Circle along the way.

It was built between 1958 and 1979 on a gravel base that insulates the underlying permafrost. Most of the highway is unpaved, except for a section near Dawson City.

Before heading off to the NWT, Harper visited to the Baffin Island community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, where he reannounced $17 million earmarked for construction of a small-craft harbour there.

The federal government had initially allocated $8 million for the harbour last year. An additional $17 million was announced in the latest federal budget in January.

Speaking in the community of 1,325, Harper said the harbour will give local fishermen a modern and reliable base of operations.

"Here in Pangirtung, and indeed across the vast expanse of our North, it is the future upon which we are focused by enhancing opportunities for northern communtiies like this one. We are also strengthening Canada's sovereignty," he said.

"In doing so, we are living up to our committment and our responsibility to preserve and protect our Arctic to ensure that this rugged and beautiful place will be a strong and vibrant part of our country for generations to come."

Construction of the harbour will be carried out in two phases, with preliminary work for the first phase to get underway early next month. Most of that work will be contracted out to the Hamlet of Pangnirtung.

Harper also said the federal government will provide scientific research and resource management support to Nunavut's emerging offshore fishery.