CBC interview with NWT Premier Simpson

NWT Premier R.J. Simpson spoke with CBC's Rosemary Barton yesterday regarding the Arctic Security Corridor -- a road through the Northwest Territories to the Port of Grays Bay.

R.J. Simpson: "One of the projects that we are pursuing, and Nunavut is involved as well, because it crosses our border, is a road up through the Slave Geological Province, a very resource rich part of the territory, that would go into Nunavut and connect to a deep-sea port at Grays Bay. That’s a project that’s been talked about for generations, for decades, but hasn’t advanced yet, so that’s one that I am really excited about.

Rosemary Barton: "Have you had that conversation with the Prime Minister? It does sound like the kind of thing that he’s interested in, developing other corridors particularly in the North?"

R.J. Simpson: That was in the platform – that was in the Liberal platform – that corridor.

Rosemary Barton: What difference would that make? Give me a sense of what that would mean for opportunities, economic growth in your region?

R.J. Simpson: On our side of the border, the area that this road would go through is one of the most resource rich areas, really in the world. That’s where we have three current diamond mines operating, we’ve had a fourth diamond mine as well, and there’s all sorts of critical minerals there. It would allow access to that region. Right now, it’s served by a winter road that we have to build every single year, and it’s only open about two months out of the year. Having an all-season road in there would allow exploration, and would make it economically feasible for companies to go in there and find resources, and it would allow us to run clean hydro power up there as well. One of the other big projects that we have is a hydro expansion project. The opportunities, not just for the territories, but for Canada, are enormous, because there’s enough resources there to really impact Canada’s GDP, and to create jobs that we won’t be able to fill here in the territories. We’re going to need people from across Canada to come up here and fill those jobs.

See the full interview here.