Federal Treasury Board president Vic Toews arrived in Whitehorse yesterday with bags of money and more assurances that the North is a top priority for the Conservatives' minority government.

"I believe that not since John Diefenbaker have we seen a prime minister more focused on developing the North," Toews said at the outset of his speech to members of Whitehorse's business community at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre this morning.

"(Prime Minister Stephen Harper's) vision of the North is integrated into his belief in the entire future of Canada."

For the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, Toews committed to more than $340,000 in funding for its Partnering For Success program ($191,000) and the Yukon Business Development Project ($155,000).

After his speech, the Yukon Mine Training Association was Toews' next stop. There, he announced $640,000 in funding to develop course material for training future and current employees in the resources sector.

In broader terms, Toews reiterated government pledges to strengthen Arctic sovereignty, protect the environment, promote social and economic development and improve northern governance.

He also took a shot at the proposed coalition government that threatened to replace the Harper government in December.

Toews said the prospect of a "separtist-backed coalition among the federal Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois could scare away potential foreign investment.

"(It) has raised the concern of many investors looking at Canada," warned Toews. "We're very concerned as a government that in one fell swoop, the separatists have been given the credibility that they did not have prior to this."

On specifics, Toews said the government was also working to address regulatory concerns.

"We have to ensure that while the environment is fully protected that the regulations do not impede legitimate economic development," he said.

While the Yukon Environment and Socioeconomic Assessment Act has been heralded as a model for other jurisdictions, nearly two years of Mackenzie Gas Pipeline hearings in the Northwest Territories and further delays with the Joint Review Panel's report to the National Energy Board have rankled industry.

In her introduction of Toews, chamber board chair Muriel Chalifoux urged the federal government to be a booster for the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline.

"Ottawa has to be more of a proponent for the (pipeline) by being more vocal in their support of this project and in supporting a regulatory environment that is conducive to economic development," she said.

Chalifoux's pipeline comments were among eight chamber priorities she hopes the federal government will act upon.

Spending more money on mapping the region, promoting tourism, assisting the Aboriginal Pipeline Coalition and reinstating the GST rebate for foreign visitors would also benefit the territory, she said.

"If the government is serious about tackling climate change, then Whitehorse and the Yukon should be supported to the point where our Cold Climate (research) facility becomes a world class operation," Chalifoux added.

The Yukon's Liberal MP, Larry Bagnell, also in attendance, said he was impressed with the diversity of the chamber's presentation to Toews.

"I'm hoping he got the point, and I'm assuming he did, that mining and tourism are our biggest industries here, unlike any other region of Canada," said Bagnell.

He is disappointed there has been little said about where the $175 million in federal infrastructure dollars available to the Yukon will be directed.

Last week, the federal government announced its seven-year, $33 billion Building Canada fund would be rolled out as soon as provinces and territories can take advantage. However, the Yukon government said it needs until June 2009 to decide which projects will get the green light.

"It keeps getting announced but when are the projects going to flow?" asked Bagnell.

"And you heard it here again this morning, the municipalities would rather the money flow through similar to the gas tax formula."

Whitehorse Mayor Bev Buckway questioned Toews on why the formula would not be employed to disperse $33 billion in funding to Canada's municipalities.

The Treasury Board president said the federal government did not want the new dollars to be absorbed by existing municipal budgets.

"Our concern is that we want to see this as incremental spending," said Toews.

"If we simply hand the money over ...there would simply be a re-profiling of programs and municipalities spending the money on programs they were intending to spend money on in any event."