Nunavut, NWT, Yukon say they’ll work together to get more federal infrastructure money

Ministers from Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories have agreed to work together to lobby Ottawa for more money to meet their infrastructure needs.

“Together the territories will advocate for infrastructure programs that address the unique realities of building and maintaining infrastructure in the North,” the governments of the three territories said in an April 3 news release.

The federal government’s Building Canada plan expires in 2014.

Now provinces and territories are working with Ottawa on what future infrastructure programs should look like, the news release said.

“By using a unified voice all three territories will be able to bring our infrastructure priorities to the forefront when working with our federal counterparts,” said Nunavut’s minister of Community and Government Services, Lorne Kusugak. “The unique infrastructure needs in the North will be better addressed by all parties working together.”

Already in 2012-13 the GN’s spending on capital projects will take a dramatic fall, down to only $94.5 million from $229.83 million the previous year.

This means the GN has yet to figure out a way to fix its big “infrastructure deficit,” estimated at about $6 billion for the entire territory.