A “grim” outlook for the territory, according to the Conference Board of Canada, should have politicians and government departments actively seeking out bigger picture, viable revenue generators that will keep the NWT moving upward and not spiralling downward where industry is concerned.
One interesting idea, posed by Harry Valentine, a transportation researcher out of Ontario, calls for the mighty Mackenzie River to become a transportation corridor for grain shipments to Asia.
This would have seemed crazy 15 years ago but so would have the idea of cruise-ship passengers stopping in on Ulukhaktok while travelling the Northwest Passage. People are lining up to pay $20,000-plus per head to do that now.
The fact is, as scary as climate change is, new opportunities are opening up because of it.
With the new Marine Transportation System making approximately 22 or so trips along the Mackenzie River in the four-and-a-half-month shipping season and with more than a half century of background data already available, the potential is there to bring in some good economic growth to the territory through grain transport shipments.
Wally Schumann, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, said politicians need to quit thinking how to develop projects in a four-year election cycle.
“We have to think more on a grander vision like the National Railroad or a whole new corridor system. Like what do we do?” he said.
While the territory might not reach the shipping potential of the Mississippi River – which alone saw $998-million in revenues from oilseed and grain transportation in 2014 – the territory could get a nice share of export of a commodity in high demand, a commodity that is currently backlogged in grain silos across the prairies.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway region – an economic powerhouse and the industrial heartland of both the United States and Canada – has a GDP of more than $4 trillion. With Japan and Russia literally at our doorstep here in the North we wouldn't have to look far for buyers or investors and the return on the initial investment could be seen in a very short amount of time.
Though the infrastructure isn't quite ready for immediate movement of grain through the territory, with the rail line up to Hay River and barges already travelling the Mackenzie the possibility is there to find funding – considering the backlog that is happening currently – to get the grain overseas.
With groundwork already laid for a deep water port in Tuktoyaktuk in the form of an encouraging report published four years ago on behalf of the Inuvialuit Regional Council, a project of this scope is already one step closer to becoming a possibility.
The NWT also has an advantage of long daylight hours while barges are running up and down the river, which increases the transport potential over that somewhat short season.
A 2012 updated study from the National Waterways Foundation reports that ships can transport freight 1.14 times more efficiently than rail, and seven times more efficiently than trucking. Additionally, reduced fuel usage and a diminished environmental impact, as well as the safety factor, make transport by water extremely attractive for businesses and meets the mandate of the GNWT to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Taking a serious look at these kinds of transportation options in the NWT falls into that big-scope idea type of mindset, brings a potential for economic growth to the territory and could provide a multitude of jobs in many areas not just along the Mackenzie River but the territory as a whole.
With NWT mining on the downswing, according to the latest conference board report, the territory needs to look at as many options as possible and find out what else it has to offer.