Party leaders mum on plans for Canada’s Arctic

The premier of Nunavut wants to know what the federal party leaders have in store for Canada’s Arctic.

“We’re halfway through the election campaign, and no federal party has offered a clear plan on how they will work with Canada’s territories to build healthy communities and a prosperous economy in the North,” Peter Taptuna wrote in an open letter to the four main party leaders on Tuesday.

“Nunavut is an integral part of Canada and Canada’s identity as an Arctic nation. It is also a unique part of Canada, with specific concerns and challenges that my government will continue to address post election in partnership with the federal government,” Taptuna wrote to Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau and Elizabeth May.

Taptuna hit on many of the divisive issues that have come between federal governments and Canada’s indigenous people for decades: natural resource development, Crown land control, housing and preservation of culture.

He said the Feds have to step up investment in the territory to address urgent issues like crumbling infrastructure, which he attributes at least in part to climate change.

“Roads, airport runways, schools and most Northern infrastructure presently in our communities is already facing impacts by melting permafrost and changes to the land and seascape,” he wrote.

Nunavut also needs a plan for phasing out “unreliable” diesel plants for hydro-electric and alternative power generation and a fiber optic network to connect citizens to the Internet and the “global community.”

In July, the Feds announced $35-million in funding to extend the contract for satellite Internet service and boost Internet speeds to 8,600 Nunavut homes. Even so, residents pay among the highest rates in the country for data plans, which range from $70/month for 10 gigabytes (the equivalent of about five movies streamed on Netflix, for example) to $369.95/month for 30 gigabytes.

Leona Aglukkaq, the Conservatives’ Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, Minister of the Environment and Minister for the Arctic Council, said her party will be responding to Taptuna’s letter “in due course.”

“No other government in Canadian history has made the North and northerners such a priority,” Aglukkaq, who’s running for re-election as the MP for Nunavut, said in an email statement to Yahoo Canada News on Tuesday. “I am proud to be part of a government that introduced Canada’s first Northern Strategy, appointed the first Inuk to federal cabinet, and has made record investments in training, infrastructure and education.”

Requests for comment from the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party went unanswered.

Nunavut’s economic potential remains “largely untapped,” the premier said, adding that developing the territory’s natural resource sectors — like mineral extraction and fisheries — will reduce its dependence on federal money.

And a university in Nunavut would help residents develop — and use — their skills closer to home, contributing to economic growth, he said.

“All investment in Nunavut results in a threefold reciprocal return to southern Canada, which is identified in job growth and the number of goods sold and produced,” he wrote in his letter. “Investment in Nunavut is good business and responsible nation building for Canada, and for Canadians.”