Harper makes Yukon hydro expansion funding official

Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed off on the federal government's contribution to Yukon Energy Corp.'s $160-million upgrade to its Mayo hydroelectric dam on Friday, the final day of his northern tour.

Harper boarded a helicopter Friday morningto tour theWareham hydro dam near the central Yukon community of Mayo, overlooking the scenic Stewart River. He was joined byYukon Premier Dennis Fentie andYukonEnergyofficials.

In May, the federal government said it would commit $71 million toward expanding the Mayo facility. Thatfundingwas the first to be announced under its $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund.

As many as300 people will work on building a new powerhouse downstream froman existing facility,adding an extra six megawatts to the existing power grid.

Workers will also add new transmission lines to the existing Carmacks-Stewart electricity grid. The expansion will finally join the territory's northern and southern grids, which will lead to a more stable system.

Preliminary site work is expected to get underway laterthis year. Theexpansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011.

Aging dam blamed for power outages

The Mayo dam expansion isconsidered to be one of the costliest federally funded infrastructure projects underway in Canada.

The prime minister said the project is a perfect example of how Canada has the potential of becoming a clean energy superpower.

"By investing in these upgrades to this hydro plant today, we are creating jobs, protecting the environment and ensuring a more reliable supply of electricity for the Yukon," Harper said in a prepared statement.

Series of announcements

Harper's Yukon stop concludes a five-day pan-northern tour that began Monday in Nunavut and featured a series of announcements related to economic development and Arctic sovereignty.

The prime minister spent most of the trip in Iqaluit, where he observed Operation Nanook, the Canadian Forces' annual sovereignty exercise in the eastern Arctic.

Harper also announced Iqaluit will be the headquarters for a new northern economic development agency, to be called CanNor.

On Thursday, Harper stopped in Yellowknife to sign labour market agreements with all three northern premiers.

He also announced five new projects to improve five major highways in the Northwest Territories, including the Dempster Highway and the Ingraham Trail.

This week's trip marks Harper's fourth tour of Canada's North as prime minister.

Critics have complained Harper's events in the three territories this week have been nothing more than repackaged announcements and possibly even a dry-run for a fall election.

Harper's trip to Mayo on Friday did nothing to dispel that impression, ashe mingled with Mayo residents at the community's gravel airstrip 400 kilometres north of Whitehorse.

The prime minister led school children on a quick tour ofan air force C-130Hercules plane before returning to theYukon capital around midday local time.

Western Arctic NDP MP Dennis Bevington dismissed the tour as "hollow rhetoric."