GN too quiet on Bathurst road-port, CamBay MLA says

JOHN THOMPSON

Keith Peterson, MLA for Cambridge Bay, says the Government of Nunavut isn’t doing enough to make the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project a reality.

“We’re not seeing a whole lot. We’re hearing that they support it,” Peterson said during an interview on Tuesday.

But he said the proposed port and road appear to be buried beneath many other priorities of the territorial and federal governments. He said that’s got to change.

“It’s got to move from 200 on the priority list to 10.”

The Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project, first proposed by the Kitikmeot Corp. and the Inuit-owed Nuna Logistics firm in 1998, would see the construction of an all-weather road, stretching over 200 kilometres from Contwoyto Lake to a proposed deep-sea port at Bathurst Inlet.

The road would help open up the massive Izok Lake lead-zinc deposit, located 265 kilometres southeast of Kugluktuk, and provide a cheaper method of fuel re-supply for Kitikmeot communities.

But Peterson said the project, expected to cost $250 million to build, needs a major backer to help fund it, and only the federal government has pockets that deep.

Another potential complication is that Wolfden Resources Inc., the new owner of the Izok Lake deposit, is proposing to build their own road, using a different route: from Izok Lake to a proposed deep-sea port on Coronation Gulf.

Rather than scuttling the Bathurst proposal, its proponents, such as Peterson, are still calling for it to be built, which might result in two all-weather roads, leading to two deep-water ports, in the same area.

Meanwhile, neither the territorial or federal governments are making much noise over the Bathurst project, which is currently under review by the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

Right now the Conservatives appear absorbed with efforts to push forward with the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline in the Northwest Territories. That’s overshadowed other northern commitments, such as building a deep-sea port in Nunavut, as well as a military training base.

The Government of Nunavut seems focused on negotiating a devolution agreement with the federal government.

Besides that, the territory’s leadership appears all over the map with its calls for hand-outs for communities, and presenting the federal government with a baffling number of choices.

For example, Premier Paul Okalik says his government supports seven different sights for a deep-sea port — including Cambridge Bay and Bathurst Inlet.

“You have to wonder, how did they pick these sites? Did they crunch these numbers somehow?” Peterson asked.

He points out that sea-bed maps and economic studies have already been developed for the Bathurst port and road project, which Peterson said proves the viability of the project.

One economic model, done for the Kitikmeot Corp. by University of Sasketchewan professors Eric Howe and Jack Stabler in 2000, predicts that 17,000 jobs would be produced over 16 years by the Izok mine.

Currently, supplies for area mines, such as Tahera Corp.’s diamond mine, slated to begin production this year, and the NWT’s nearby Diavik mine, is hauled overland 2,300 kilometres from Edmonton, by rail and across winter ice-roads.

Shipping goods through the Arctic Ocean to Bathurst Inlet would be far cheaper, and the all-weather road would lengthen the trucking season, which is currently limited by ice conditions to several weeks in late winter.

Those ice roads became dangerous early this season, due to high traffic and warm weather, Peterson said. As a result, the Diavik and Tahera mines didn’t receive their entire year’s worth of supplies by road. Instead, Diavik had to take the pricey route of renting a cargo helicopter, Peterson said.

“All this stuff could have been brought in with a port,” Peterson said.

The Bathurst plan proposes that access across Contwoyto Lake would be by ice road in the winter and barge in the summer.

Though the road would be Nunavut’s first “highway,” it wouldn’t link any communities and it wouldn’t be open to the public. Instead, its operators plan to charge a toll to the companies that use it.

Peterson said there’s no reason why the Bathurst port and road project couldn’t be expanded to support a stronger military presence in the Arctic. A Bathurst port could also supply ships traveling through the Northwest Passage, which is expected to become ice-free in coming decades due to global warming.

And Peterson bristles at the suggestion that the Conservative’s election promise to build a military training centre in Cambridge Bay was a “consolation prize” for a deepwater seaport going to Iqaluit, as suggested by an online journal on military issues.

“Where people come up with these stories is something that should be the subject of an investigation,” he wrote in an email last Friday.

That article describes Cambridge Bay as being on the “wrong side” of Victoria Island, facing south to Queen Maud Gulf, rather than opening towards the Beaufort Sea, as does Resolute — the military’s preferred location for a military training centre.

“I can’t live much closer to the Northwest Passage without falling into it,” Peterson wrote. “The analysts should get their facts straight.”

Icebreakers, cruise ships and other vessels already stop at Cambridge Bay while crossing through the passage, using the area’s natural harbour as a shelter during poor weather, Peterson said. “It’s a bit of a highway,” he said.

He adds that Cambridge Bay is close to Yellowknife, where Canada’s defence headquarters for the North is located. Yet it’s not far from Resolute, which often serves as a military hub during sovereignty exercises.
And Cambridge Bay enjoys historic ties with Canada’s military. Peterson said he hopes those ties will strengthen if a military centre is built in the community, encouraging young men and women to join the forces and learn trades, becoming mechanics and electricians.