Ottawa to name key Arctic road projects as in national interest: sources

Ottawa on Wednesday said it is launching the process to designate three new Arctic projects that are of national interest, meaning they will be eligible for fast-tracked approvals and sidestepping some environmental laws.

Speaking from Yellowknife, N.W.T., Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon outlined the details for two transportation infrastructure projects, as well as a nuclear waste facility.

“Canada is launching the process that leads to three projects being listed as projects of national interest under the Building Canada Act. The first two projects: the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Braes Bay Road and Ford Project are nation building initiatives,” said MacKinnon.

“The government of Canada is also referring a third project to the major projects office: the nuclear waste management organization’s Deep Geological Repository located in Northwestern Ontario, near Wabigoon Lake, of the Ojibwe Nation and the Township of Ignace.”

Mackinnon added that the Deep Geological Repository is designed to “provide the safe long-term management of Canada’s use of nuclear fuel.”

Some of these road and infrastructure projects would see a 230-kilometre all-season road built through the N.W.T. and Nunavut, unlocking mining opportunities for critical minerals in the North.

They would see an all-season road from Yellowknife to Inuvik, cutting down travel times and passing through communities currently accessible only by air, winter roads or barges.

Both were referred to the major projects office in March and would be the first Ottawa has signalled as being in the national interest under the Building Canada Act.

The act allows for fast-tracked approvals and the sidestepping of some environmental laws.

– with files from The Canadian Press