Nearly 200 delegates were set to descend on the Yukon Convention Centre today as the annual Opportunities North conference began.

As Yukon Chamber of Commerce president Peter Turner said this morning, Opportunities North represents the largest business conference North of 60.

It includes delegates coming from Alberta, B.C., the Northwest Territories, Alaska and Ontario in addition to the large contingent of Yukoners signed on to take in the presentations. They will begin tomorrow morning and continue until Thursday.

A theme of Shaping The Future will be the focus of this year’s conference with presentations and discussions around fibre redundancy, infrastructure, aboriginal business and education, as well as energy, among a long list of others.

Turner conceded the topic of energy will no doubt be controversial as the potential for fossil fuel energy in the territory will be explored during a panel discussion Tuesday morning.

While the answers on energy production in the territory may not yet be clear, he said, “we want to have that discussion.”

As Turner pointed out, there is a lot of cost and greenhouse gas emissions that come from trucking fuel into the territory from other regions, like Alberta.

A keynote address by Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, will focus on shaping the future in Canada and the North during Tuesday’s lunch.

The conference is organized each year by the Yukon, N.W.T. and Edmonton chambers of commerce, with each of the three jurisdictions taking a turn as the host community.

The Yukon hosted last year’s conference, making 2015 Edmonton’s turn to host.

Turner explained that with a number of events happening in Alberta’s capital this year, officials with the chamber did not feel they could take on hosting the conference.

Similarly, officials with the N.W.T. chamber did not feel they could host the conference. So the Yukon chamber opted to organize it for another year, with the N.W.T. now scheduled to host the 2016 conference followed by Edmonton in 2017.

Turner went on to note special rates were offered to Yukon businesses and those belonging to any of the Yukon chambers of commerce.

“We’re trying to make it more accessible to small businesses,” he said.

The effort was successful, with about two thirds of the delegates being local, including many small businesses.

The conference will kick off late this afternoon, with delegates checking in starting at 4 p.m. followed by a welcome reception set for 6 p.m. at the convention centre.

The business portion of the conference will begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday with welcoming remarks from Yukon chamber chair Rich Thompson and Ta’an Kwach’an Council Chief Kristina Kane.

Talks, presentations and discussions will continue over the next three days with a reception and entertainment Tuesday night and a dinner set for Wednesday evening.

Thursday will conclude late in the morning with a breakout session aimed at policy and direction delegates would like to see the Yukon chamber focus on, followed by closing remarks set for 10:45 a.m.