QC guns for deepwater port job

SARA MINOGUE

Qikiqtaaluk Corp. wants to be the principal developer of any deep sea port project that goes ahead in Iqaluit.

QC vice president Peter Keenainak made a preliminary pitch to Iqaluit city council at their Tuesday night meeting.

QC wants to act as the organizer of several interested parties, including the city, the territorial and federal governments and the military. The company would arrange financing from private sources and government subsidies.

In the pitch to council, Keenainak emphasized the corporation’s knowledge of the local economy and culture, and focused on QC’s experience as the developer of the new Qikiqtani General Hospital.

“We realize this project has potential — not only for the government and for Iqaluit, but also for Qikiqtaaluk Corp.,” Keenainak said.

Nancy Gillis was the first councillor to question QC, asking: “Have you looked at our proposals, or is this starting from scratch, other than utilizing something that we’ve worked well over a year on?”

QC president Brian McLeod explained that QC has used the city’s report from Aarluk Consulting for its preliminary work, “spending a lot of time with the document.”

McLeod also explained that QC is presenting “a conceptual approach” at this stage.

“We think it’s very important to have a local presence, an Inuit presence, pushing this, rather than winding up with something like the FOL [military building by the airstrip], which now sits unused,” McLeod said. “We want this to be integrated in the community.”

“We don’t underestimate how complicated that’s going to be,” McLeod added. “We feel we’re as well placed as anybody in Nunavut, and possibly in the country, to do this kind of project.”

Other councillors expressed their unwavering desire to see a deep water port built as soon as possible, in a way that benefits Nunavut as well as outside interests, such as the military.

Qikiqtaaluk Corp. is a for-profit company that is 100 per cent owned by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

QC recently expressed an interest in a multi-year hydro-electric project led by Qulliq Energy Corp. QEC is testing 15 potential sites for the project, which do not include Apex River or Sylvia Grinnell.