http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Government says in line with new mandate, Kitikmeot Inuit Association says based on inaccurate information
The Nunavut government pulled out as a co-proponent on the federal funding application for the Grays Bay Road and Port Project, before learning whether the application was successful or not.
The move is significant as it’s one of the Quassa government’s first visible public policy shifts away from the previous government under Peter Taptuna. But the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, now the project’s sole proponent, says the government made its decision to pull out based on inaccurate information.
The proposed project is a 227-kilometre all-season road to connect a proposed deep-water port at Grays Bay — on the Northwest Passage between Bathurst Inlet and Kugluktuk — to the winter road that services the N.W.T.’s diamond mines. It’s one of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories’ richest areas in minerals.
The project has the potential to create 2,250 jobs in Nunavut and contribute $665 million to the territory’s mining revenues, according to a January 2018 economic assessment report.
In the Legislature on Wednesday, Economic Development and Transportation Minister Joe Savikataaq told the House the move was a nod to the government’s new mandate.
For the rest of this article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-government-grays-bay-road-and-port-kitikmeot-inuit-1.4685076