Wednesday January 28, 2026 | OTTAWA, ON [Reporting from VICTORIA, BC – Posted at 9:28 am PT | Updated 2:41 & 3:53 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The 2026 Winter Meeting of Canada’s Premiers is happening today in Ottawa at the Andaz Ottawa Byward Market Hotel.
PEI Premier Bloyce Thompson is the Council of the Federation (COF) chair.
This comes one day ahead of the premiers meeting as a whole with Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney has met individually or in small groups with various premiers today.
Carney also met virtually with Canada’s Premiers last month, on December 19.
Northern premiers:
The three northern premiers addressed media today around 12 noon ET (9 am PT), led by NWT Premier R J Simpson as their caucus chair.
“The territories are not provinces. If we want new infrastructure we need the federal government,” said Simpson today.
“We are going to continue to advocate for the North, for northern priorities,” said Simpson. He wants to make sure that “monies that are carved out for the north actually come to the North where it’s most needed”.
“Canada is an Arctic nation,” said Simpson. He notes there is an Arctic Infrastructure Fund which the North caucus discussed with Steve McKinnon today who is Government House Leader and Minister of Transport.
“In the Northwest Territories we see the north at the centre of Canada’s strategic future. We have a significant number of resources that Canada needs, that the world needs in terms of critical minerals and natural gas. but we need support to access those,” said Simpson today.
When premiers come out of their joint COF meeting they will be united in the spirit of Team Canada, said Simpson He says he looks forward to hearing what’s happening in each of the jurisdictions.
Projects in the North:
Northwest Territories:
“We’re advancing a number of nation-building projects including the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor which is a road a port project starting in the Northwest Territories and with a road travelling through one of the most mineral-rich areas in the world which would unlock significant economic and development potential. Then terminating on the northwest coast — on the Arctic coast — in the northwest passage on the Nunavut side,” said Simpson today.
Another project that we have is the Mackenzie Valley Highway that we’re advancing. That is a road in the western part of the territory that would connect the southern part and the northern part of the territory, and also provide a reliable all-season ground transportation route for the operating location located in Inuvik above the Arctic Circle. Currently there is a road that goes up there but it is not generally accessible year-round. I think for national security purposes it’s important to have that access as well as for lowering the cost of living for our residents and create economic opportunities for them,” Simpson outlined today.
Nunavut:
“The way we can invest is restrained heavily” by the financial systems that the territories operate in, said Nunavut premier John Main, referring to how provinces can levy taxes but territories cannot.
“Things have already changed, things need to move forward in the new future,” said Main regarding the ‘new economy’ that has been emerging since the United States ruptured the world economy.
“We’re also very excited (in Nunavut) and seized with the energy that’s in Ottawa as of late in terms of the focus on the Arctic — the talk about Arctic security and sovereignty, said Nunavut Premier Main.
“Coming from Nunavut, what we’re aiming for — the message that we are sharing with many ministers over the course of this week — I have my entire cabinet here — our message is that Arctic security and sovereignty cannot be one dimensional. It needs to be holistic and it needs to be balanced,” said Main.
“We can’t have state of the military technology flying in the face of communities that are impoverished and in need of basic infrastructure for drinking water, for housing, energy security. These are the types of things that need to be considered,:” said Main.
“We are encouraged so far with the conversations that we’ve had with different ministers. I’m encouraged by the conservation that I had with the prime minister yesterday. In terms of the receptiveness to our message and to our desire to see things done in a balance manner,” said Nunavut’s premier.
During media questions, Main said that the prime minister’s speech at Davos was “a proud moment for me as a Canadian”.
He also mentioned an Inuit-led hydroelectric project that if it ran up into Nunavut would see see a hydroelectric transmission line run up into Nunavut and be their first link to the rest southern Canada “in any way” (there also being no north/south roads). Main sees the Province of Manitoba as a partner in what Nunavaut “is trying to do”.
Yukon:
“We want to see that new approach to the world reflected (in action in the North),” said Yukon Premier Currie Dixon.
“We are tremendously excited about the opportunity that presents itself in the Canadian North today,” said Dixon.
“We see for the first time in a long time a federal government that is paying attention to the North, has expressed a keen interest in development of the North, and appears at least so far at least to invest in the North,” the Yukon premier said.
“We see a tremendous opportunity of alignment between the priorities of the federal government as expressed by the prime minister and our government of the Yukon,” said Dixon. He outlined the priorities as the development of critical minerals, the proper investment in the Canadian military in the North, and a number of nation-building projects that we think will benefit the territories as well.”
Dixon reiterated about the financial constraints of territories compared to provinces, including the cap on debt that territories can take on. He said that that the Northern premiers learned today from Minister McKinnon that the details of the Arctic Infrastructure Fund “haven’t been determined yet”.
“We look forward to learning more about how the federal government will be deploying those investments,” said Dixon. “We’re eager to see them flow. We just need to know how they’re going to work.”
About COF:
The Council of the Federation comprises all 13 provincial and territorial Premiers.
COF enables Premiers to work collaboratively, form closer ties, foster constructive relationships among governments, and show leadership on important issues that matter to Canadians.
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