Canada’s industry minister says if NWT businesses want to capitalize on the benefits from federal defence investments, they need to start preparing.
Mélanie Joly made the remarks during an event in Yellowknife hosted by the NWT Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening focused on Canada’s defence industrial strategy.
The federal government released the strategy earlier this year with the aim of growing the domestic defence industry. It sets a number of targets for the next decade, including awarding 70 percent of defence contracts to Canadian companies, increasing defence exports by 50 percent, and creating 125,000 new jobs.
Joly said the “the future is bright for Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories” as the federal government has promised investments in Arctic defence and critical minerals.
She pointed to planned Canadian Armed Forces expansions at the Yellowknife and Inuvik airports along with the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway, Taltson hydro expansion and Arctic Economic Security Corridor, which have all been referred to the federal Major Projects Office.
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The minister said not only will those projects create construction jobs, but they will support the service sector through population growth.
Joly described the federal government as being “in emergency mode” and Prime Minister Mark Carney as “an impatient man” who wants to make things happen.
While the federal government works to fast-track major projects, Joly promised Canada wants to learn from its past mistakes and not use people “as flag poles.”
“We want to make sure that the North gets its fair share of investments in defence and we know that we can create jobs here in the territory with these investments,” she said.
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While the ball is partly in Ottawa’s court to do that work, Joly also encouraged northern businesses to get organized and work with elected officials at the federal and territorial level.
“The more you guys get organized, the more we can work with you as well,” she said.
As an example, Joly pointed to the Arctic Defence Logistics Platform, a supply chain initiative launched by BBE Expediting Ltd and Det’on Cho Logistics last month, that aims to bring companies together to support the movement of defence supplies to the North.
‘Are we really getting ready?’
Municipal leaders across the North have called on the federal government to ensure that spending in the region directly benefits communities.
While municipal and territorial leaders in the NWT have expressed much excitement about the promised federal investments, others are more skeptical.
Several community members at a town hall with national defence officials in Yellowknife last month questioned how much of that money will stay in the North, raised concerns about the environment, or called for stronger commitments to address the housing crisis and gaps in healthcare services.
Among those who attended Tuesday evening’s event with Joly was Danny McNeely, the MLA for the Sahtu. Discussing the Mackenzie Valley Highway project, he told Joly while the region is geographically vast, it has limited capacity.
“When I look at the magnitude of this project and the benefits, are we really getting ready? In particular, negotiating that readiness, allowances for capacity and guarantees,” he questioned.
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“It is really important to guarantee the benefits on the aftermath of the project.”
McNeely called on the federal government to negotiate with treaty holders on a portion of the highway that they could deliver “successfully, within budget, schedule and done safely.”
Joly said while she is not in charge of the highway project, it is Canada’s intent to work with Indigenous communities.
Ravi SK Singh, director general of defence industrial strategy at the Department of National Defence, previously met with Yellowknife’s business community in March to discuss the federal strategy.
Attendees raised similar concerns about the challenges of doing business in the North and differences from southern Canada at that meeting, and Singh pledged to continue engaging with northern businesses and communities.
