N.W.T. voters face tough choices amid gloomy economic forecast

The Northwest Territories goes to the polls Monday at a time the territory’s resourcedriven economy is stagnant, becalmed by low commodity prices and uncertainty over land rights.

Population growth is just as sluggish. Demands for social spending and infrastructure such as roads are rising.

And while the N.W.T. has managed a string of balanced budgets, those days may be ending.

“There’s a lot of challenges we’ve got to face,” said Premier Bob McLeod, running for re-election.

Under the territory’s consensus form of government, candidates run individually instead of under a party banner.

The 19 successful candidates meet shortly after the election to choose a premier and cabinet.

Whoever wins the premier’s chair has big issues to deal with — like who controls the land.

“The real foundation is uncertainty over the land claim,” said Herb Norwegian of the Dehcho First Nations, which has an unresolved claim covering much of the Mackenzie Valley

Nor are unsettled claims the only land issue. The N.W.T. and Nunavut Chamber of Mines has expressed serious concerns about access, saying that 30 per cent of the territory is already closed to exploration.

“We don’t know where all the attractive mineral deposits are in the N.W.T.,” the group wrote in a briefing note.

Then there’s actually getting to all those deposits.

“We need more infrastructure, like roads, so there could be more mines,” said Edward Erasmus, chief of the Tlicho government.

An all-weather road up the Mackenzie Valley would dramatically reduce costs to develop the region’s known reserves of oil, gas and minerals, as well as for those living along its route. Cost is a factor and the fiscal cupboard is bare.

Revenues are forecast to grow by less than half a per cent in total by 2019. By then, expenditures will grow by more than eight per cent.