Pipelines

[Kirkhill]

Sometimes.

Sometimes it is just a correction line…

Damned oranges.

 

[lenaitch]

I see the same situation with pipelines and first nations. If there is too much resistance then bypass and isolate.

That's what Ontario (Hydro One) recently did when upgrading an electrical transmission corridor in northern Ontario. The original line went through both a National Park and a FNT. The new corridor took a different route to avoid both.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

That sounds inaccurate. I saw on TV a statement he made. He dodged the question by noting there were no projects in contemplation at a stage that warranted addressing the issue. That isn't a flat "no".

Eby pours cold water on Carney’s pipeline consensus plan

B.C. Premier David Eby is throwing shade on the pipeline consensus presented by his colleagues at the meeting between Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this week. Carney previously said he would support building pipelines if certain conditions were met, one of them being co

truenorthwire.com

However, Eby said he would not support building a new oil pipeline through B.C.

If that isn't a NO, I don't know what is, but I'm not getting flustered over wording.

 

[Kirkhill]

Eby pours cold water on Carney’s pipeline consensus plan

B.C. Premier David Eby is throwing shade on the pipeline consensus presented by his colleagues at the meeting between Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this week. Carney previously said he would support building pipelines if certain conditions were met, one of them being co

truenorthwire.com

However, Eby said he would not support building a new oil pipeline through B.C.

If that isn't a NO, I don't know what is, but I'm not getting flustered over wording.

Not support is not the same as oppose. Shades of grey.

 

[Kirkhill]

From a couple of days ago:

AGG, which operates the Port of Churchill and the connecting Hudson Bay Railway (HBR) in northern Manitoba, strategically links Western Canada to Arctic waters and from there offers routes to Europe, South America and the Middle East.

Stretching for 1,000 kilometres from The Pas in central Manitoba to Churchill on Hudson Bay’s western shores, the HBR is also a lifeline for 33,000 people living in isolated areas with limited road access, said Hicham Ayoun, senior communications adviser at Transport Canada.

The Port of Churchill, Canada’s only deep-water Arctic port connected to mainland, ships goods such as critical minerals, construction equipment and agricultural and energy products to Southern Nunavut’s Kivalliq region and the rest of the world.

The port and railway were returned to Canadian hands in August, 2018. A partnership of OneNorth – a group of 29 First Nations and 12 communities in Manitoba and Nunavut – and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired them from Omnitrax and commenced repairs, supported by federal funds. The Churchill community welcomed back the first train in November, 2018, after 18 months of shutdown.

Fairfax left the partnership two years later, leaving OneNorth the sole owner of AGG, owned by a partnership of 29 First Nations and 12 communities in Manitoba and Nunavut, Mr. Avery said.

Mr. Avery said the company currently employs 150 workers,

The company marked a milestone in August with the first shipment of critical minerals from the port. This included around 10,000 tons of zinc concentrate from Snow Lake, Man., loaded onto the HBR and cargo vessels, and destined for Belgium.

The group is building a new storage facility to ramp up critical mineral shipments, “the first new building at the Port after decades of neglect,” according to the report.

Mr. Avery said Europe is a critical minerals major market for AGG. The group plans to transport up to 20,000 tonnes of minerals this year, including potash for food production. New exports will also include sand used in new technologies such as solar panels. Construction equipment, trucks and building materials are instead on the list for Nunavut communities.

Arctic Gateway Group says the Port of Churchill will help diversify Canada’s trade links to other countries

AGG strategically links Western Canada to Arctic waters and from there offers routes to Europe, South America and the Middle East

www.theglobeandmail.com

...

Alaska Highway
Great North Road

These were and are typical of many roads around the world. They were built for strategic purposes, to communicate, to move troops, to move supplies between two distant points. Traders set up around the military posts and stopping points along the way. Miners and others used the roads to reach into the newly available territories. Fortunes lost and made. New cities built.

The people moved in after the roads were built.

 

[Kirkhill]

Northern representation in federal cabinet could lead to better outcomes, two territorial premiers say

Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai is waiting for the May 27 Speech from the Throne to hear what Ottawa plans for Canada’s North

www.theglobeandmail.com

Two premiers of Canada’s territories say they are optimistic that the three ministers who mark significant Northern representation in the new federal cabinet might lead to better co-operation and significant projects being completed.

Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai said it will make “a world of difference” not to have to explain the opportunities and challenges of the North to federal counterparts. Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson agreed, saying they will be able to get right to the issues at hand during meetings.

“The fact that we’re going to have people at the cabinet table who have that knowledge and have that background and are able to educate their federal colleagues, is going to go a long way to ensuring that the decisions that are made about Canada and about the North are actually informed,” Mr. Simpson said in an interview Friday. “To me, that’s the most exciting part.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet, unveiled last week, includes Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, whose riding includes Northern Quebec; Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty, who represents the Northwest Territories; and Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, whose riding is in Northern Manitoba.

Buckley Belanger, named the secretary of state for rural development, represents Northern Saskatchewan. Mr. Carney was born in Fort Smith, NWT

AGG/NeeStaNan Corridor - Native Proponents

Smith - Moe/Belanger - Kinew/Chartrand.

Backing of Pillai - Simpson/Alty/Carney - Akeeagok - Gull-Masty to deliver Grays Harbour and Hudson Bay access.

And there is commercial backing as well.

Seafood magnate John Risley leads venture to build infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic

Startup believes it can be a catalyst for country’s economic expansion in the North

www.theglobeandmail.com

Nova Scotia billionaire John Risley says Canada has neglected the Arctic for far too long, which has undermined the country’s economic prospects and put its sovereignty at risk. He’s betting he can light a fire for change.

Mr. Risley, who made his fortune with Clearwater Seafoods before turning to investments in MDA Space and green energy, has launched a new company called Arctic Economic Development Corp. (AECD). It’s aiming to spur large-scale growth in Canada‘s North, primarily north of the 60th parallel, by marshalling a wave of new capital, private-sector expertise, and partnerships with government and Indigenous Peoples such as the Inuit.

“We haven’t really stepped up as a country” in devoting enough attention to the Arctic, Mr. Risley said in an interview this week with The Globe and Mail. Public underinvestment in the Coast Guard has left Northern waters exposed while corporate Canada “hasn’t woken up to the opportunity,” he said.

“It’s sort of hard to get to. It’s difficult to do business in. There are short windows of opportunity because of weather. And all that needs to change,” Mr. Risley said. “It’s an area, as we are learning, of strategic importance to the country. And somebody needs to be a proponent of this from the private sector and help both business and government get things done up there and done in a hurry.”

Melting ice and increasingly volatile geopolitics are changing the face of Canada‘s Arctic region, which makes up nearly 40 per cent of the country’s land mass despite being home to only 150,000 people. Both China and Russia have been increasing their naval activity in the Arctic via research ships and military patrols, prompting a warning by former NATO secretary-general Fogh Rasmussen this month that the alliance needs to take on a “stronger role” in the region.

Mr. Risley said his startup believes it can be a catalyst for Canada‘s economic expansion in the North, pulling together its connections and partnerships to forge private-sector-led investment and infrastructure development. Discussions have already begun with pension fund managers and other infrastructure players who might be interested in funding projects, he said.

The company is working on an early project with Qikiqtaaluk leaders in Nunavut’s Baffin region that would see Horizon Maritime, a marine services company co-owned by Mr. Risley, quarterback the procurement of polar-class icebreakers for private and public purposes. It also wants to speed up projects for things such as satellite communication service, warehouses and resource access through new transportation infrastructure.

“I’m in love with the Arctic,” Mr. Risley said. “I’ve spent quite a bit of time up there. I see it changing. And I see it as both an opportunity and a concern. We can do this the right way and we can do it the wrong way. And so I want to be part of doing it the right way.”


The Nova Scotia businessman has a track record of collaboration, particularly with Indigenous partners. After Clearwater signed a landmark agreement on surf clam harvesting with 14 First Nations in Atlantic Canada worth millions in revenue-sharing, he went further and sold the entire company to a coalition of Mi’kmaq bands and Vancouver-based Premium Brands Holdings Corp.

Nothing will happen now without the involvement of local communities, Mr. Risley said, adding that these are economic opportunities that belong to the North.

“This is not going to be an agenda run out of Toronto or Ottawa or Halifax,” he said. “They’re going to be at the boardroom table helping make decisions and deciding what gets support and what doesn’t. You can’t do things in the North in the absence of social licence, I can promise you that.”

Before the Brits and French showed up the Inuit were trading with the Vikings.

 

[Kirkhill]

The most recent concrete plan for a national-scale response to infrastructure gaps in the near North was pitched several years ago by researchers at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and the Montreal-based CIRANO research group. The proposed Canadian Northern Corridor, endorsed in 2017 by the standing Senate committee on banking, trade and commerce, calls for a 7,000-kilometre designated right-of-way stretching across the country for roads, rail, power transmission, pipelines and communication networks that would connect to existing infrastructure in Southern Canada.

Seafood magnate John Risley leads venture to build infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic

Startup believes it can be a catalyst for country’s economic expansion in the North

www.theglobeandmail.com

Don't remember hearing anything about this one.

 

[Czech_pivo]

From a couple of days ago:

Arctic Gateway Group says the Port of Churchill will help diversify Canada’s trade links to other countries

AGG strategically links Western Canada to Arctic waters and from there offers routes to Europe, South America and the Middle East

www.theglobeandmail.com

...

Alaska Highway
Great North Road

These were and are typical of many roads around the world. They were built for strategic purposes, to communicate, to move troops, to move supplies between two distant points. Traders set up around the military posts and stopping points along the way. Miners and others used the roads to reach into the newly available territories. Fortunes lost and made. New cities built.

The people moved in after the roads were built.

I seem to remember that we tried building some new road in our sector of Afghanistan under the premise of ‘nation building.’