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North Slave Mtis aim lawsuit at NWT Mtis Nation claim The North Slave Mtis Al- liance are suing the gov- ernment over provisions in the new NWT Mtis Nation agreement-in-principle. See page 3. Kohlrabi Kraze hits Yellowknife to boost local food security Five hundred kohlrabi vege- tables have inltrated Yellow- knife from Hay River as a rst step towards larger scale food sharing in the NWT. See page 15. TEAM NWT SHINES Athletes compete in the Western Canada Summer Games. See page 8. Video game to teach indigenous languages of NWT LanguageofcialsintheNWT are developing a video game that will teach animal names in all the ofcial indigenous languages of the territory. See page 14. Alberta looks into death of 30 blue herons in oilsands The Alberta Energy Regulator is investigating after dozens of the protected species were found dead at Syncrudes oil- sands site. See page 8. V IS IT W W W .N O R J.C A A national award winning independent newspaper serving northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories since 1977 1.00 August 18 2015 Vol. 39 No. 16 Northern tour Harper promises to chip seal NWT Highway 5 if re-elected By DALI CARMICHAEL MEAGAN WOHLBERG Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off what was certainly his shortest visit to the North in Hay River last Friday where he prom- ised - if re-elected - to nance the hard surfacing of Highway 5 run- ningthroughWoodBuffaloNational Park into Fort Smith. At a gathering hosted by Rowes Construction on Aug. 14 Harper announced a Conservative govern- ment would allocate 14 million to- ward chip-sealing the 64-km gravel length of the road as well as wid- ening portions of the highway and replacing drainage culverts where necessary. I know this will obviously please Fort Smiths mayor Harper said. I can tell you that I heard from Brad Brake how important the upgrade to Highway 5 is for this region. Friends investments like this make life easier and safe both for the folks who live here and for tourists. It will be a better road and - this is important - our government will pay 100 per cent of the costs. paved for decades. Parks Canada local municipalities and the territo- rial and federal governments have long debated whose jurisdiction the project belongs to. Good news MLA mayors Thebacha MLA Michael Milt- enberger who recently expressed his extreme disappointment that Highway 5 was snubbed during Ot- tawas recent funding announce- mentcalledthepromisegoodnews for the community of Fort Smith. Thanks to the Conservatives for setting that high bar. Its a very good political promise during the election to set the bar now and my expectation would be to see the Lib- erals and NDP make similar com- mitments - or better he said. Itsabigunnishedpieceofbusi- ness for Fort Smith - a federal piece of business - so I thank Mr. Harper the Conservatives and of course Floyd Roland the candidate for making that commitment. I think all the constituents of Thebacha would like to see similar commit- ments from the other two parties. See Critics on page 3. Investments like this make life easier and safe both for the folks who live here and for tourists. Prime Minister Stephen Harper Themostrecentcampaignpromise falls in line with the Harper govern- mentsongoingNorthernstrategy.In the NWT that agenda has included a 200-million contribution toward an all-weather road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and a 72-million con- tribution to upgrading all highways of the NWT except Highway 5. The territory has been working to get the gravel section of the road According to the NWT depart- ment of Transportation the high- way no longer meets the standards for traffic speed and volume and requires a full reconstruction. Officials with the department recently told the Journal that chip-sealing would be a band- aid fix noting full paving of the road would cost upwards of 20 million. Ready aim re The Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre in Fort Smith hosts its rst ever colour party for kids while the grown-ups take in the treasures at the annual Summer Splash Artists Fair and Farmers market on Aug. 15. For more pictures from the 10-day festival head to page 9. PhotoDaliCarmichael