Manitoba, Nunavut premiers hopeful for hydro project, seeking federal help – Winnipeg [Video]

The premiers of Manitoba and Nunavut are hopeful a proposed hydroelectric and fibre optic project is moving closer to fruition and are seeking federal money.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok have signed a memorandum to work together on the project and ask Ottawa for capital funding.

The proposed Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link would see a 1,200-kilometre line built through northern Manitoba to several Nunavut communities west of Hudson Bay that currently use diesel to generate electricity.

It has been talked about for years and a recent estimate put the cost at $1.6 billion.

Manitoba announced this week it would dedicate 50 megawatts from its Crown energy corporation to the project, which Kinew says is only a start.

Kinew and Akeeagok met at the Manitoba legislature and said, given the current trade dispute with the United States, there is appetite for nation-building projects and efforts to build up …