A new $300-million first of its kind ‘permanent’ highway will officially open in the Northwest Territories of Canada on Wednesday.

This will be the first time in Canada’s history that the national highway system will be linked to all coasts. The completion of the four-year project is said to connect the tiny Arctic coastal town of Tuktoyaktuk with the rest of the communities to provide better transportation for residents.

We think there could be another reason why Canada would build a highway to nowhere.

As explained by one citizen in the video below, the new route is called ‘road to resources’, it’s where major reserves of oil and gas reside, and at one time inaccessible due to poor infrastructure.

The all-season 137-kilometer highway is the first of its kind that connects Inuvik to Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk. The traditional route to Tuktoyaktuk involved ice roads in the winter, but as the seasons changed those roads were inaccessible. In the summer, the only way to travel north was by plane, which made it difficult to transport goods. The new road will be a game changer and its size indicates heavy machinery can be transported north, such as oil and gas platforms.

Darrel Nasogaluak, mayor of the Northwest Territories hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, said the permanent road is “something that’s been on the community’s want list for 40 years.” Nasogaluak might want to take back that statement in a few years, as what we expect the Canadian government could flood the region with oil and gas exploration teams.

According to Yahoo Canada News,

The idea of a Canadian arctic road has resurfaced periodically within different levels of government, but in 2013, the federal government committed to paying two-thirds of the $300-million cost as one of four Canada 150 signature infrastructure projects.

Tuktoyaktuk is located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories with 898 in total population.

According to the narrative that has been pitched by the Canadian government and press, the expanded roadways will serve as an economic lifeline to the region. Yes, this is true, but it will come at the expense of large corporations depleting natural resources.

This was once tried in the 1970s during the fuel crisis in the United States. Large corporations piled into the region in search of oil and natural gas. After the crisis, the cost of production became too expensive and oil and gas platforms were left offshore of Tuktoyaktuk.

Wally Schumann, N.W.T. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, spoke with the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories last month providing an outlook of extreme optimism of Canada’s first permanent road to the Arctic coast.

He also said, “progress to construct the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Highway is exciting to observe. Once complete, Northerners will have contributed to fulfilling a vision of Canada connected by road from coast-to-coast-to-coast”. Schumann’s eagerness to nation build a $300 million road to nowhere leaves us questioning: what is the real agenda at play?

For the residents of Tuktoyaktuk the road has been pitched as an economic savings of $1.5 million per year or $1,500 per citizen in transportation costs. Many in the area see what’s coming and have already started preparing for the economic boom as explained by CTVNews:

The local bed and breakfast has added rooms. Tuk is developing RV parking sites and public facilities such as toilets.

Doing the math: $300 million / 898 citizen of Tuktoyaktuk comes out to be around $334,000.00 per citizen.

That is an astonishing number the Canadian government is willing to spend on a town to nowhere, nevertheless help 898 citizens travel more economically in all four seasons.

We stand by our claim there is an underlying agenda in play and the Canadian government along with the corporations that follow are more interested in natural resource exploration.

As we find out, CBC News confirms our thoughts:

The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) is seeking federal funding to study the feasibility of developing gas fields along the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. The IRC has long known about the fields, and is hopeful the new highway and advancements in technology will make the gas reserves more economical. The IRC represents Inuvialuit from the communities of Aklavik, Inuvik, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk, and Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories.