Partnership with Canada a must, Greenland premier says

Links between Nunavut and Greenland are a “must,” said Greenland’s premier, Jonathan Motzfeldt, in an interview this week.

“We are interested in closer cooperation,” Motzfeldt said during a stopover in Iqaluit on his way to Ottawa for the opening of a Viking exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

This would include regular air transportation, so passengers and cargo between Greenland and Nunavut wouldn’t be limited to charters or ships.

“We have to do it,” Motzfeldt said.

The Home Rule government has been eager to work on finding ways to revive the connection between Nunavut and Greenland since Greenlandair and First Air stopped their Ottawa-Iqaluit-Kangerlussuaq service last year.

But Motzfeldt said if Iqaluit doesn’t come on board, Greenland will look elsewhere in Canada for an air traffic connection to North America.

“We support it, [but] it’s up to Iqaluit now how they will help us,” Motzfeldt said.

The Government of Nunavut and Motzfeldt’s Home Rule Government had agreed to work together to develop a closer relationship in a memorandum of understanding they signed in 2000.

Motzfeldt said he’s hopeful a project to start a joint fisheries venture between Nunavut and Greenland will develop closer ties — the kind that could help airlines and businesses survive.

“It should be an economic, not a socio-cultural, [venture] — money-making,” Motzefeldt said.

Greenland exports more to Canada (about $12.8 million in 2000), than Canada exports to Greenland. Greenland exports mainly second-hand aircraft and fish.

In 1996, when Canada’s trade with Greenland peaked, Canadian exports were in the range of $8.8 million.

Since 1999, Greenland has invested in developing a shipping route, a joint venture between Royal Arctic Line and Transport Desgagnés, but the Home Rule government is concerned about what will happen to Greenland’s investment if trade relations and transportation fall off.

But the lack of regular air transportation isn’t the only barrier to trade between the two Arctic neighbours. There’s also Greenland’s enduring tradition of trade with Denmark, language problems and many national differences in rules and regulations.

For example, while Greenland uses only the metric system, Canada still accepts non-metric measures in housing and construction supplies. Different voltages also hamper trade in electrical appliances.

According to Home Rule government figures, a consumer in Greenland could still save about four per cent or five per cent of their total household budget if one-third of their food and non-consumer items came from Canada — reason enough for Motzfeldt to persist in encouraging more trade with Canada, if not directly with Nunavut.