In 2018, the Yukon government was criticized for what the opposition called a delay in getting shovels into the ground for the Gateway Resource project.

As 2019 dawns, the government says it’s still expecting to wrap up the project in time for the 2025 planned end date.

That’s according to Ranj Pillai, the minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR), who spoke to the Star about the almost half-billion-dollar project late in the year.

“I think it’s important that people understand our government’s position to ensure that we build good projects with appropriate and respectful partnerships,” he said.

“That is the key to this,” Pillai added.

He explained he did not see the dialogue with affected First Nations that had been done on the file as of when he came into office in late 2016 as satisfactory.

“As a government, we really had a lot of pressure on us to make up for the work that didn’t get done,” Pillai said, referring to the 2011-16 Yukon Party government.

The overall project could see upgrades to upwards of 650 kilometres of road, along with the building or replacement of a number of bridges, culverts and stream crossings to the Dawson Range and Nahanni Range among others.

Pillai explained that the end date is slated for 2025.

That’s something the minister said he doesn’t expect to be pushed back at this point.

However, he would also not say definitively whether there would be a time extension sought from Ottawa.

“I’m comfortable with what we’re moving toward for 2025,” he said.

“But I’m also not uncomfortable with going and asking for flexibility from the federal government if we have to.”

That’s because the feds have agreed to fund more than half the project: coming with a price-tag of an estimated $468 million, Ottawa will be pitching in about $247 million.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was accompanied by Premier Sandy Silver for a formal announcement about that in early September 2017. A news conference was held with Miles Canyon as the backdrop.

For its part, the Yukon government will kick in about $112 million and local industry $108 million.

Pillai’s comments came on the heels of criticism levied at the government during the past fall sitting in the legislative assembly by the Yukon Party in particular.

It had questioned the minister as recently as Nov. 13-14 for an updated timeline on the project.

An Infrastructure Canada webpage confirms the $247 million federal contribution. The page lists the project as approved in June 2017, with construction having been pegged to begin during June 2018.

Scott Kent is the Yukon Party’s one-time EMR minister and now the critic for the department.

He pointed out in the legislature in November, and to the Star last month, that the work has not begun – resulting in a months-long delay.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the minister continues to play the blame game,” Kent told the Star.

Having taken office on Dec. 3, 2016, the governing Liberals are heading into their third full calendar year, he pointed out.

He noted that the approval date of June 2017 listed online was seven months after his party had been ousted from power, making room for the Liberals.

Kent admitted that both parties would have been in transition mode immediately after that election.

However, he said, his party had worked hard with the federal Tories (who preceded the federal Liberals) to hold negotiations with affected First Nations. It had also planned on continuing that work had it been re-elected in November 2016.

“When we saw the prime minister come up here in September (of 2017),” Kent said, the party had “thought or hoped those agreements were in place.”

For his part, Pillai said he wasn’t satisfied with the level of dialogue the previous Yukon Party government had achieved – save for a letter of support he referenced in the legislature and during December’s Star interview.

He added he felt the government had inherited the project and was scrambling.

In early 2017, just months into the role, he said Ottawa “told us this project was in massive jeopardy.”

That was in part because there was little shown support from First Nations, he said.

Over the next months, his department worked to get them on board – negotiations and dialogue are ongoing, he said.

Pillai’s remark about the project being in jeopardy was news to Kent.

“That wasn’t our understanding when we left office,” he said in the interview, adding he had hoped to eventually continue and complete the necessary work.

Meanwhile, to ensure that the infrastructure is used to its maximum capacity, Pillai said, it’s important to be respectful of both the First Nations and timelines of mining companies.

For example, an executive for the company in charge of the Casino mine told delegates during a November mining conference that it’s continuing preparations as it will go to a panel review before the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

That will make it the first time in its 13-year-history that the board has bumped up the project up to the highest level.

The spokesperson also added that it’s expecting to have the open-pit project, which sits between Carmacks and Dawson City, fully permitted in about three years.

“We’re not about to build a road (to a place) that doesn’t exist yet,” Pillai said of the criticism levied his way.

Kent disagrees.

He said there are at least portions of the overall project that should come with a sense of urgency.

“Particularly the goldfields road ... that’s a very active exploration and potential development area.

“There will be opportunities for projects to be further explored, and I think it’s important that this government recognize it as a priority.”

For clarity: the minister said he expects geotechnical work to begin in Carmacks this year, for the part of the project that could produce a bypass for the section of highway that runs through the area.

“Every one of those roads inevitably will have opportunity, but they also have impact that come with them.”

Those effects will be felt at least in part by the First Nations that the government is now continuing its dialogue with, he added.

“That trust is something that we are not going to back away from; we are continuing to have the appropriate conversations,” Pillai had said in November.

As for this year’s projected date by which the minister expects work could begin on the bypass portion, Kent said, “We’ll believe it when we see it.”

Meanwhile, as per November’s criticism in the legislature, Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn also rose to speak to the matter, assuring MLAs that work had indeed started.

“Planning is certainly part of the job,” he said, referencing the government’s commitment to not proceeding on the project without the approval of the affected First Nations.

Among those are the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation, which Pillai also referenced when discussing the project with the Star.

“For somebody that feels like, ‘OK, when are you going to be moving some rocks?’ – that’s the 2019 build season,” Pillai said, regardless of whether that includes work on the bypass and the goldfields at the same time.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself about negotiations that are underway.”