High Arctic MLA seeks info on transportation strategy

Ron Elliott, the MLA for Quttiktuq, wants an update on the High Arctic transportation strategy, the legislative assembly heard March 11.

Last October, Peter Taptuna, minister of economic development and transportation, said the strategy and its recommendations would be brought to the Government of Nunavut, then forwarded to the federal government, Elliott said March 8 in the Nunavut legislature.

In his response to Elliott, Taptuna said the costs of “food, transportation, and travel are one of the most phenomenal costs that anyone bears up there,” referring to Elliott’s High Arctic riding.

Those costs are a huge “impediment,” he said.

As for the strategy, Taptuna said “we’re fairly close to making a decision on what we’re discussing between the parties involved, including the communities.”

Elliott asked if the report and the strategy on transportation in the High Arctic would be presented before the end of the current session.

“It seems like we’re having baby steps in terms of progress and movement on this,” Elliott said.

The discussions on the issue are ongoing, Taptuna said — and they started before Nunavut became its own territory, he said.

But “there is a lot of difficulty in coming up with solutions,” Taptuna said, adding that he would do his best to come up with the report.

“We completed a preliminary study on the high cost of transportation in the past, and we did share that information with the three communities that were involved in this,” he said.

The GN is looking at several options, but Taptuna said he couldn’t “divulge” them.

The department’s 2012-15 business plan shows that the department will implement a Nunavut Transportation Strategy, which includes measures to address the needs of High Arctic communities, Elliott said.