Tag: Canada

Lecture at University of Akureyri

On Thursday, April 18, I was at the University of Akureyri in northern Iceland, where just a few days previously I’d been invited to give a presentation based on my May 2012 Policy Options article, “Nunavut, Greenland and the politics of resource revenues“.  I also incorporated elements of my Fall 2012 Northern Public Affairs article, “Political vision …

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Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada (c) 2008 Anthony Speca

Political vision and fiscal reality in Canada’s North

The fiscal relationship between Ottawa and the three Northern territories will reach a crossroads in little more than a year, when the current federal-territorial fiscal arrangement—known as Territorial Formula Financing (TFF)—comes up for renewal. The territories depend profoundly upon TFF to fund their development, and Ottawa points to it as the principal financial contribution toward its vision of a North of self-reliant individuals, healthy communities and responsible governments. Yet it is unclear whether TFF even covers the extraordinary costs of providing public services in the territories, let alone the costs of realizing Ottawa’s vision. Nowhere is this less clear than in Nunavut, where experts have called into question the adequacy of federal support. Will Ottawa take the upcoming TFF renewal as an opportunity to dispel doubts that its aspirations for the North exceed its willingness to pay for them?

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Lailor Lakes, Nunavut, Canada (c) 2008 Anthony Speca

Sealing (and) the deal with Europe

Northerners shouldn’t worry that Canada will abandon its challenge to the EU’s seal-trade ban in favour of a free-trade deal with the EU, but they should worry instead about the damage the ban has done to the very idea of Inuit as economic actors in the modern marketplace.

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Livingstone Falls, Nunavut, Canada (c) 2008 Anthony Speca

Let’s ban bans in the Arctic

An update on this column’s coverage so far—mostly of the disquieting potential consequences for Northerners of proposals to ban various economic activities in the Arctic.

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