Den Cho refuse to 'budge' on pipeline project.
Mackenzie discision call 'imperialistic.'
By PATRICK BRETHOUR AND SIMON TUCK
Tuesday, May 3, 2005 Page B4
theglobeandmail.com
KANANASKIS, ALTA. and OTTAWA -- The Deh Cho are facing down Imperial Oil Ltd.and its partners in the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, saying that they will not change their demands because of the "imperialist tactic" of halting work on the pipeline.
"We're not going to budge," Grand Chief Herb Norwegian told The Globe and Mail yesterday, saying the Deh Cho will not alter their bargaining position. That leaves the future of the $7-billion pipeline up in the air, particularly as the federal government said yesterday that negotiations depend on aboriginal groups "making decisions."
Last week, Imperial and the rest of the five-member consortium halted preparatory work on the pipeline, citing regulatory delays and escalating costs from negotiations with the four aboriginal groups whose territory the pipeline crosses.
Imperial said it was faced with demands running into the "hundreds of millions" from aboriginal groups who wanted the consortium to pay for housing and other long-standing social problems. Some of the proposals included requests for annual property tax payments of up to $40-million a year. Imperial and its partners want the federal and Northwest Territories governments to take over those issues, but so far federal and territorial politicians have not.
Mr. Norwegian said the Deh Cho position is unchanged, and added that the consortium's announcement is just a bargaining ploy. "It's a great imperialist tactic."
Imperial said its concerns are real, not a bargaining chip, and that it went public with the problems in a bid to get them resolved.
"Fundamentally, we are in the pipeline-building business, not the pipeline-stopping business," said spokesman Hart Searle, adding that the consortium has yet to see a formal proposal from the Deh Cho.
However, the Sahtu, one of the other three aboriginal groups, have made just such a proposal. Yesterday, one of their negotiators -- former Northwest Territories premier Stephen Kakfwi -- said that he, too, is standing firm with the proposal for $8-million a year in "property tax and surcharge" for Fort Good Hope, part of the Sahtu First Nation.
He warned that Imperial should recognize that aboriginals are entitled to a slice of the profits that will flow from the pipeline. "We know Imperial is going to make billions over the next 30 years."
In Ottawa, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said yesterday that native communities should be talking to government about social services such as health care and education -- not oil pipeline companies.
"If you want a hospital or a school . . . the community should be talking to me, or the territorial government, not the producers," Ms. McLellan told reporters outside the House of Commons. "They're going to have to make some choices."
Some of the things that native communities want from producers aren't part of "access-benefit agreements."
Ms. McLellan also said she agrees with producers that the pace of the project is important. "What we don't want to do is lose any more time."
Alex Swann, a spokesman for Ms. McLellan, said later in response to Mr. Norwegian's comments that Ottawa will be talking to native communities in the coming weeks in an attempt to address their concerns. Governments, however, can only go so far, he added.
Ms. McLellan said she doesn't believe there are too many government departments involved.
She also said there are some "legitimate questions" that the producers haven't yet addressed, even though they have filed 9,500 pages of documents.
Natural Resources Minister John Efford appeared to side clearly with producers, saying time is critical. |
