Iqaluit site of northern development agency & PM projects for North

The headquarters for the new Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency will be located in Iqaluit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tuesday.

Harper was joined by Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl in making the announcement at the city's Arctic Games Arena as part of the prime minister's five-day tour.

Harper first promised to set up the stand-alone regional economic development agency in Canada's North during last fall's election campaign. It was also mentioned in last November's throne speech.

The agency, CanNor, will be similar to those that already exist in the western provinces, northern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada and will deliver federal funding for economic development, advocacy and research.

The agency will have satellite offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse.

The recent federal budget earmarked $50 million, or $10 million for each of the next five years, for the agency, but the government did not reveal then where it would build the agency's head office.

Harper is touring the north as part of a trip meant to demonstrate Canada's Arctic sovereignty. More announcements are expected in Yellowknife and Whitehorse later in the week.

The prime minister was also scheduled to meet with members of his cabinet planning and priorities committee on Tuesday.

Cabinet members at the meeting will include Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Treasury Board President Vic Toews and Transport Minister John Baird, who arrived with Harper on a flight Monday night. Officials have said their discussions will focus on economic development.

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland has said the Conservatives have not adequately consulted with the territories on what is in the region's best interests.

Iqaluit has spent the past decade campaigning for a deep-sea port. Mr. Harper's Conservatives promised a big marine project in the North as part of the 2006 election campaign, but ended up choosing to refurbish a port near an abandoned mine in uninhabited Nanisivik.

Since coming to power in 2006, Mr. Harper's government has pledged billions of dollars for Arctic development – money that has gone toward everything from military bases to houses to seabed mapping. But many of the territory's most basic infrastructural needs remain unaddressed.

Attempting to categorize and prioritize the North's infrastructure needs can be overwhelming, says Rob Huebert, associate director for the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

Iqaluit's bay has one of the most dramatic tides in the world: The ebb and flow spans eight metres over kilometre-long tidal flats.

They're impressive, but they can also be a headache when it comes to offloading cargo brought in by boat, or to travelling by sea to and from the territorial capital. It can take days to do jobs that would otherwise be finished in a matter of hours as boats wait for high tide.

A proper port would lower the cost of living, boost the fishing industry and make it far easier to do business in the capital city, says Iqaluit community economic development officer Erin Gordey.

Over the past 10 years, Ms. Gordey says, multiple feasibility studies have shown the need for a port, which wouldn't come cheaply – $50-million would be “a start.”

John Hawkins, Nunavut's director of transportation policy and planning, says even the basic costs of a port would be double the department's annual budget.

Nunavut is embarking on another ambitious design and feasibility study, but it likely won't be finished for another 18 months – too late to profit from the federal government's stimulus funds for “shovel-ready” projects.

When the Nunavut government put together a 10-year housing plan in 2004, half of the territory's Inuit lived in overcrowded conditions – almost 40 per cent of them classified as “core need,” meaning they're simply not able to access acceptable housing. At the time, the Nunavut Housing Corporation estimated it would need twice its annual budget to build the 3,000 affordable-housing units required to bring overcrowding to a level on par with the rest of Canada.

As flu season begins, many fear severe overcrowding will speed the spread of the H1N1 virus that has already infected close to 500 people in the territory.