The process of turning the NWT’s Marine Transportation Services into a Crown corporation has formally begun.
The territorial government introduced Bill 50 on Tuesday, the Marine Transportation Corporation Act, which proposes legislation that would complete the switch.
The bill’s text was made available on Wednesday afternoon, stating that a public agency named the Marine Transportation Corporation will be created.
While the bill does not expressly use the term Crown corporation, the GNWT has consistently used that wording in its framing of the move.
Following a review by consultants KPMG, the GNWT announced last year that it would turn MTS – currently a division of the territorial government – into a Crown corporation by 2027.
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The bill follows that timeline but sets out that, once created, the Crown corporation will only assume formal control of barging from January 1, 2028. Leading up to that, there will be a nine-month spooling-up period for the corporation to become fully established.
The territory has said the governance structure of a Crown corporation would enable MTS to better work with federal counterparts and maximize opportunities for collaboration with the private sector.
“MTS has great potential to contribute to the GNWT mandate of a strong and stable NWT economy but must be operated in such a way that it has the flexibility to seize opportunities as they arise – which is exactly what transitioning to a Crown Corporation would allow,” stated infrastructure minister Vince McKay last year.
“Ultimately, by transitioning to a Crown governance model, MTS could take steps to increase revenues while striving to reduce expenditures and ensuring every public dollar spent serves the needs of residents and communities.”
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The NWT government has operated the MTS barging service since 2017 after the previous operator, Northern Transportation Company Limited, filed for bankruptcy in late 2016.
MTS provides crucial summer resupply of goods and fuel to communities along the Mackenzie River as well as coastal communities in the western Arctic.
The service has faced challenges in recent years.
Some barges destined for Tulita and Norman Wells were cancelled in 2023 due to low water levels and wildfire-related evacuations in Hay River, while all barges for those communities were cancelled in 2024 due to record low water levels on the Mackenzie River.
The GNWT has said turning MTS into a Crown corporation comes with slightly higher operating costs than some other options, but in turn offers the territory more control and certainty over how the service is run.
The bill is not yet law and will be scrutinized by MLAs as part of the legislative process.
Its provisions appear to include a mechanism by which cabinet can use regulations in future to re-privatize the barging service, if it wishes. (The GNWT has given no indication that it currently intends to do so.)
