Proposed highway to give Great White North new meaning

BANFF, Alta. – (Aug. 15, 2005) — Provincial leaders will push the federal government to build a 970-kilometre highway to one of the earth’s final frontiers.

A national cross-country highway already connects Canadians to both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and now politicians want a surface link to the Arctic Ocean as well, the Toronto Star reports.

The provinces’ premiers and territorial leaders — who are meeting to discuss transportation and other issues in Banff, Atla. — said they’ll urge Ottawa to build the $700 million, all-season highway in the Northwest Territories, which would follow the Mackenzie River from Wrigley to Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea.

“That completes Canada when we’ve got the three seas connected,” NWT Premier Joe Handley told The Star. The project, according to the newspaper, is a long-held dream of Handley’s.

Handley said the highway would open up a new north-south trade gateway, as well as unite Canadians living in the most remote part of the country. He added that the highway would increase Canada’s presence in the Arctic, which would in turn protect Canada’s sovereignty in the region.

Currently, the area is under-serviced, relying on slow sailing Mackenzie River barges, airfreight, and increasingly volatile ice roads for its goods.

Last week the premiers announced they plan on developing a national plan to deal with the country’s collapsing transportation infrastructure. The provincial leaders say they’re concerned Canada’s crumbling highway network and congested land and sea ports will make it difficult for the country to compete in the global economy.

They also acknowledged that Canada is the only member of the G8 without a national transportation blueprint.

Handley, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, and BC Premier Gordon Campbell will develop the strategy.

— with files from the Toronto Star


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