N.W.T. premier emphasizes need for federal support during first meeting with prime minister

R.J. Simpson, the new premier of the Northwest Territories, met with Justin Trudeau for the first time this week, during which they spoke about emergency management, the transition to renewable energy and the territory's vision of how it will work with Indigenous governments.

In an interview with CBC North's Hilary Bird, Simpson spoke about the meeting. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The new N.W.T. government hasn't finalized it's priorities yet, so how did you approach this meeting without having done that?

I just looked at it as an introductory meeting, so it gave me a chance to explain consensus government to the prime minister and why we don't have [official] priorities yet. That being said, there are some things that the territory is facing that are going to be priorities one way or another, so I was able to to raise those issues with him. 

What were those issues?

I talked about my vision for the future of the Northwest Territories, and the direction we're going in terms of how we work with Indigenous governments and what the future of the territory looks like — where we're going to have a number of self-governments administering their own programs and the N.W.T. government playing a much different role, looking 50 years into the future.

I also spoke about emergency management, and about the need for support for building the type of infrastructure we need to help protect communities, such as fire guards and berms so we don't have to evacuate. 

And, of course, housing, which, you know, he brought up as well because it's an issue across Canada.

What did you tell the prime minister about what the N.W.T. needs from the federal government right now?

He mentioned that the North, north of 60, is different than the rest of Canada. He recognizes that, and we need to be looked at differently. I did speak about the need for support for infrastructure specifically in terms of emergency management.

But, you know, he's very seasoned at what he does and I think that he's heard a lot of the comments that I've made about how we need to work with the federal government, how we need their support, so he actually raised a lot of those issues.

What did he say the federal government could be providing?

We didn't get into the specifics about, you know a road here or a bridge there, but we did talk about the aging infrastructure, the need to provide the financial support to get things done in the North because we don't have the a large population like the south to raise taxes. He made very clear that he sees the north as unique and needs to be looked at in a different way.

This week, the N.W.T. received an $84-million advance payment from the federal government to help cover the costs of this year's wildfire season. Is that enough?

I'm happy to get it. We did ask for it in advance, at the end of the last government, and we [have now] received it. But we have disaster assistance from the federal government outstanding from three years ago as well, right? We had disasters in 2021, 2022 and 2023, so we do have a lot of funds that we are still waiting for, but this will help us with our cash flow. 

You're still waiting for funds from some of the flooding that happened several years ago?

Yeah, that's my understanding. I think things are moving much more quickly, but I will say it is a long process. There's a lot of administrative elements to it and there's some people who haven't finalized their own claims from the flood a few years ago.

What does this influx of money mean for the financial picture in the territory?

Well, it means we won't be paying interest on $84 million, which will be nice.

I don't want people to think that we weren't able to get money out the door to residents who needed it because we didn't have this advance payment. We were still getting the money out the door. 

When you were elected, you said one of your first orders of business will be to get an exemption for the territory from the federal carbon tax. Did you ask Trudeau for that?

My preference, like many people's preference, would be to not have a carbon tax that increases the cost of living in the territory. So I haven't formally sent something saying I want a full exemption, but yes, it did come up. 

We did talk about climate change and the need to move toward a green economy, start using green energy and green technology. And again, I reiterated the fact that we need support. We want to do that in the territory, but we need support from the federal government to move in that direction. 

Will you still be asking for a full exemption from the territory, from the federal carbon tax?

Well, we have to sit down as a cabinet and have that discussion.

Are you optimistic about your relationship going into the future?

Yeah, I am. And I've met with other federal ministers as well, and I think there's a lot of alignment between us and the federal government in terms of how we want to work with Indigenous governments, and a lot of our positions on climate change. I am confident that we'll have a good relationship.

The Trailbreaker10:16Interview with the new premier of the Northwest Territories, R.J. Simpson.

This week, premier R.J. Simpson had his first meeting with the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the premier of the Northwest Territories. He joined Hilary Bird to talk about what came out of that.