Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Arctic Business Forum Has First Meeting, Fulfilling Canadian Promise

The Canadian Press , 01 Sep, 2014 11:50 AM
    IQALUIT, Nunavut - Canada will live up to promises it made two years ago when the first meeting of the Arctic Economic Council begins Tuesday in Iqaluit.
     
    Creation of the group was to be the centrepiece of Canada's agenda as it assumed leadership in 2012 of the overall Arctic Council, which is made up of the eight countries that ring the North Pole. Canada's chairmanship ends this year.
     
    The new economic council will be a clearinghouse for businesses seeking to operate responsibly in the Arctic, said Tom Paddon, president of Baffinland Mines and one of three Canadian delegates to the new body.
     
    "Business has been going on for a long time in the North and over time, a series of best practices as to how to go about doing things environmentally and in a socially responsible way has been built up," Paddon said in a government-produced video released earlier this summer.
     
    "It makes sense to share those."
     
    The goals of the body include advising the Arctic Council and fostering business relationships across the Arctic. It is able to set its own membership, governance and activities.
     
    It is directed to take into account environmental protection and the encouragement of aboriginal business.
     
    All 21 members of the economic council are from the private sector. Six aboriginal groups will also attend the meeting.
     
    At least one group is leery of the Arctic Economic Council.
     
    The World Wildlife Fund, which originally supported the group, has said that the way it has been set up is opaque and unaccountable. The fund said it was refused permission to observe this week's meeting.
     
    "The proposed body will be neither open nor transparent and accountable to no one but the large industries expected to cover the costs of the group," the fund has said. "It will comprise an indeterminate group of business interests selected according to no clear criteria and acting on their own behalf."
     
    But Hannu Halinen, Finland's senior Arctic official, said the business council will strengthen the overall Arctic Council.
     
    "We have seen the expanding agenda to economic issues," he said on the same government video.
     
    "There is really a demand for business activities. What is missing is a framework to interact with business, to set guidelines."
     
    Duane Smith of the Inuit Circumpolar Council said the new body could help ensure development is done right in the North.
     
    "It's an opportunity for them to ensure, with the involvement of indigenous people, so have meaningful deliberations and discussions on how the Arctic should be approached, managed, sustained and developed in a manner that everybody can live with," he said in the video.
     
    Business interest in the North has been growing, partly fostered by the decline of Arctic sea ice.
     
    Mining is the region's largest economic driver. Energy exploration, both onshore and offshore, is growing despite controversy in some areas. Fisheries are growing and may expand as more is learned about regional stocks.
     
    The Northwest Passage has seen its first commercial shipment and more are expected. Communities hope to cash in on cruise ship tourism.
     
    The next country to lead the Arctic Council will be the United States.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police

    Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police
    TORONTO — Four people have been arrested in a shooting in northwest Toronto that sent five people to hospital, one with life-threatening injuries, police said Thursday.

    Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police

    Duelling Reports: Finance Rebuts Grim Analysis By Another Federal Department

    Duelling Reports: Finance Rebuts Grim Analysis By Another Federal Department
    OTTAWA - Finance Canada has issued a rebuttal of a politically embarrassing report on middle-class economic woes that was compiled last fall by experts in another federal department.

    Duelling Reports: Finance Rebuts Grim Analysis By Another Federal Department

    Growing Number Of Workers Choosing To Be Paid With Bitcoin: Payroll Firm

    Growing Number Of Workers Choosing To Be Paid With Bitcoin: Payroll Firm
    A small but growing — and surprising — number of workers are rejecting Canadian dollar salaries for Bitcoin, according to a Waterloo, Ont., payroll firm.

    Growing Number Of Workers Choosing To Be Paid With Bitcoin: Payroll Firm

    No Welcome Mat: Rob Anders Takes Second Crack At Conservative Nomination

    No Welcome Mat: Rob Anders Takes Second Crack At Conservative Nomination
    CALGARY - Controversial Conservative MP Rob Anders may not find the welcome mat out as he attempts to make the move from a big-city riding where he lost his nomination to a brand new rural one.

    No Welcome Mat: Rob Anders Takes Second Crack At Conservative Nomination

    Canada Talks Tough On Ukraine, But Cuts $2.7-billion From Defence In 2015

    Canada Talks Tough On Ukraine, But Cuts $2.7-billion From Defence In 2015
    OTTAWA - Stephen Harper has been one of the toughest-talking leaders throughout the Ukraine crisis, yet newly released figures show National Defence is expected to face an even deeper budget hole in the coming year than previously anticipated.

    Canada Talks Tough On Ukraine, But Cuts $2.7-billion From Defence In 2015

    What the US military wants for missile defence: multi-use sensors in the Arctic

    What the US military wants for missile defence: multi-use sensors in the Arctic
    PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - American military officials have shed some light on what Canada could contribute to the missile-defence program should it choose to join after a decade spent on the sidelines.

    What the US military wants for missile defence: multi-use sensors in the Arctic

    PrevNext