NWT Premier R.J Simpson is confident that his initial Council of the Federation meeting was fruitful.
"This is my first Council of the Federation meeting, and as a Canadian, I feel a lot of comfort," Simpson said minutes after the event in Halifax, N.S., officially concluded. "It was great to hear all of the premiers around the table. Despite the fact that there are some ideological differences between us, I was very comforted to see that we're all working in the same direction. There might be some disagreements about how we get there, but everyone at the table is working for the benefit of Canadians, and it's reflected in the agenda for the meeting."
There were many items on the agenda throughout the meeting, which was attended by all of the premiers of Canada's 13 provinces and territories.
One of the issues at the forefront of Simpson's mind was the creation of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which many NWT residents consider more crucial than ever, as barges struggle to navigate the historically low waters of the Mackenzie River and ice road seasons are shortened amid warming winter temperatures.
"Every day, we're moving closer to that goal," the premier said of the long-discussed highway. "We are working to advance that project, and I think the recent issues we're seeing with barging really highlights the need.
"There's no way that Canada can ignore the need for the Mackenzie Valley Highway now, and the time is now to advance the project, and I'm confident that we can get support from the federal government."
Another item Simpson shed light on was the high cost of living in the NWT SA国际影视传媒� which could partly be curbed by the creation of the highway, as moving goods to many communities in the territory would become less complicated and less costly.
"There was a discussion about the cost of living across Canada," he said. "Different jurisdictions have different ideas on how to address that. Some of the suggested solutions were ensuring that our regulatory systems are aligned, that we have reliable transportation corridors so that we can keep the cost of food down, and I'm happy to hear that there is support for infrastructure in the North.
"The rest of Canada recognizes that we do lack infrastructure in the North, and we need things like the Mackenzie Valley Highway," he added. "I feel confident that I will get that support from that table for those types of initiatives."
Housing, which has long been a huge concern in the NWT, was also discussed. Simpson feels his concerns were more readily understood by his counterparts than they might have been in previous years, as the housing crisis has gradually crept across the entire country.
"All of the other jurisdictions in Canada now have sort of caught up to the North in terms of the housing crunch," he said. "We've been experiencing this for quite some time, and now that the rest of Canada is feeling it, there's more pressure on the federal government, so I'm hopeful that we can make an impact and there's more investment in that area."
The NWT premier is departing Halifax "happy with how things went," and with an eagerness to "keep building those relationships" that were developed in the Nova Scotia capital.
However, there may be some worry among NWT residents that the needs of the territory will fall by the wayside as larger jurisdictions take priority.
Yellowknife resident Charles Davison shared his concerns to that end in a recent letter to the editor published by SA国际影视传媒. In his correspondence, Davison spoke specifically of a recently announced memorandum of understanding between the GNWT and the Government of Alberta. He expressed concerns that the agreement may be more beneficial for Alberta, and that it may also drive a wedge between the NWT and Ottawa, as Alberta is at times bellicose in its interactions with the federal government.
When asked about those concerns specifically, Simpson countered that "collaboration is always a good thing."
"With Alberta, we share a highway, a railroad, we have a significant amount of air traffic that flows through there, so we are already so connected with Alberta that it only makes sense," he said. "We now have a mechanism where we can have formalized talks about how to improve those connections and work together to develop more connections for the benefit of not just both our jurisdictions, but also Canada."
