When Prime Minister Mark Carney releases his second list of nation-building projects — expected sometime in the next month — Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin hopes the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link will be on it.
"It's the very definition of nation building because it fills a very critical infrastructure gap," said Audouin, CEO of Nukik, an Inuit-owned company focused on major infrastructure projects such as the hydro-fibre link.
It "can power communities, can power future mining development and certainly can power defence as well."
The proposed $3.3-billion, 1,200-kilometre, 150-megawatt transmission line with fibre-optic cable would connect Manitoba’s hydro grid to five communities and at least one gold mine in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.
The Nukik website says the transition to clean energy would improve local air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 371,000 metric tons annually and displace 138 million litres of fuel per year.
It would significantly reduce the risk associated with shipping heavy fuels across Arctic waters and of spills in communities.
Nunavut imports all of its fuel during the summer months and stores it to power local diesel generators, t
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