The North in transition: Ken Coates in The Hill Times – MLI

December 3, 2024

The primary changes are coming from two directions: the recent election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the likely change in the government in Canada in the election anticipated for the fall 2025.

The territorial North has been in something of a steady state for the past two decades, finalizing devolution agreements that transfer federal authority to the territories, implementing major land claims and self-government accords, adjusting to more extensive and lengthy project evaluation systems, and working closely with Ottawa-based civil servants on a wide variety of social, economic and political initiatives. These changes have been made easier by a dramatic expansion in federal government spending and strong Liberal support for select northern initiatives. There are significant signs that this relatively steady state—one marked by the dramatic re-empowerment of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people and the move to near-provincial status for the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut—is about to be disrupted.

The primary changes are coming from two directions: the recent election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the likely change in the government in Canada in the election anticipated for fall 2025. These profound shifts in governance—one impending in two months and the other possibly within a year—could rattle northern policy in potentially dramatic ways.

Read More: https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/the-north-in-transition-ken-coates-in-the-hill-times/