Arctic needs roads, not icebreakers: N.W.T. premier

Canada should bolster its sovereignty in the North by making the region a better and cheaper place to live, not by sending up more military icebreakers, Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland says.

Roland, who is preparing to meet with other provincial and territorial premiers next Wednesday in Regina, criticized the northern strategy unveiled by the federal government earlier this week.

The strategy mostly repeats promises previously announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, such as establishing a northern economic development agency and expanding the military's presence in the Arctic.

But Roland said the Harper government keeps talking about icebreakers, when the North really needs affordable power and more roads.

"The biggest cost drivers in the North for sustainable development, for sustainable communities, is transportation and power," Roland said Friday.

"So we've worked on a plan that would slowly see that happen for us, but without investment from the federal government, that will continue to be slow, and the interest in the Arctic will not wait for us to do that development."

Specifically, Roland said the federal and territorial governments must make progress on the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline proposal, currently in the regulatory stages.

Ottawa and the N.W.T. government should also work toward more hydroelectricity plants and a highway through the Mackenzie Valley, he said.

Roland accused the Harper government of not consulting with northerners about how best to assert Arctic sovereignty.

Interest is growing in the North, the premier said, but a lack of infrastructure means opportunities to develop resources in the region are being lost.

Roland said he has told Ottawa he wants to be at the table when it comes to making future plans for the North — a point he said he'll reiterate at the premiers meeting next week.