By determining the best possible route for the proposed Alaska-Canada rail link prior to looking at environmental impacts and first nations' concerns, the feasibility study is trying to separate areas that shouldn't be looked at apart from each other, says Opposition Leader Todd Hardy.

'You can't do that,' said Hardy in an interview last week. 'How can you separate first nation concerns? How can you separate environmental concerns?'

Kells Boland, the project manager of the feasibility study has divided the project into work stages. Presently, the project is looking at the market, technical and financial aspects of the rail link.

There are approximately 66 work packages presently available to contractors which ask for an analysis of inbound and outbound traffic, engineering aspects of the rail link, the impact on ports, an economic analysis of the railway, impacts on the private sector, the benefit to the public sector and how to get public and private sector investment.

The opportunity to submit resumes for the work packages close on Aug. 14 and Boland expects to have created by Sept. 1 a team to complete the study.

Boland said the research in the stated areas should take approximately six to eight months and at that time a route that makes the most economic sense will be selected.

Only then will a public interest analysis be conducted, which will look at such aspects of the selected route's impact on the environment, how the land will be used, and first nations negotiations and concerns.

Boland added with the cost of environmental assessments and the extent of negotiations that will be needed to get a route through, it doesn't make sense to try to do that kind of 'permitting activity' on more than one route.

If the study were to examine all of the public analysis concerns now they would have to apply them to every possible route, he said.

But, Hardy said it doesn't make sense to separate economics from public interest when choosing the route, and argued that in today's Yukon they are in fact, inseparable.'That's the problem. A lot of people think they can separate these issues away from each other,' he said. 'In this day and age, it's absolutely impossible. You have to treat it as a whole.'

Hardy added the environmental impact of the route should be an important factor in determining if a rail link is feasible and that there needs to be a complete understanding of the effects on terrain, wildlife, subsistence living and eco-tourism.

The separation of these issues from the economic analysis could indicate a serious problem with the structure of the study, he added.

'How do you determine a route if you don't take into account first nation concerns, first nations lands, which first nation you're dealing with, how many agreements you would need, what kind of impact, what kind of employment opportunities, what kind of economic benefits would they receive? How can you pick a route if you don't include the environmental impact studies? You can't pick a route unless those components are part of it,' he said.

Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell agreed the structure of the feasibility study may be 'putting the cart ahead of the horse.'

He said today there are really only two main proposed routes for the rail link - one following along the Alaska Highway corridor and the other going up toward the Tintina trench. It would be much easier to have first nation involvement to determine if they favour one route over the other and to address their concerns now, he said.

'If you're going to be truly consulting with people you need to consult people earlier rather than later,' Mitchell said.

Waiting until after the economic analysis has selected the route is not the most proper way to consult, he said.

'It sounds like (Boland's) already (has) an extremely narrow view of what justifies economic activity and how you would actually come up with a decision of the route and least impact on other economic activities of the territory,' said Hardy.

But, Boland said the environmental and first nation concerns will be very much a part of the process - though, the terms of reference haven't yet been defined for those areas.

'I'm certainly taking it from the point of view of is there a business case, which is also a public case' for a particular route,' he said.

In the meantime, Andy Carvill, grand chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations, has agreed to sit on the rail link's advisory committee.

'We'll be looking for him for guidance on first nations involvement,' said Boland.

In a press release last week announcing Carvill joining the committee, Premier Dennis Fentie stated: 'First nations have a key role in the Alaska-Canada rail link study and must be involved in development projects of this magnitude.'

Carvill was unavailable for comment.

Boland agreed that first nation and environmental concerns will have a major impact on the outcome of the study. He also stated that should there be a major issue with the best economic route, the structure of the study will allow the project to easily go back and explore other options for the route without having to start again from square one.