Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government appears to be abandoning climate change research in the North, says the territory's MP.

In an interview last week, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said he's concerned funding for the Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) won't be renewed, leaving the research centre out in the cold come April.

'I'm definitely concerned because it's the most engaged and detailed organization in the North dealing with climate change,' Bagnell said.

'There's nothing that deals with this to the extent that the NCE does.'

At over $250,000, Bagnell added, the federal government is the largest contributor to the NCE's operating budget.

The NCE, according to its annual report, is an organization established to provide Canadians with credible information on climate change.

'The NCE, a program of the Northern Research Institute at Yukon College, was established in February 2000 to provide a credible independent source of information, develop shared understanding and promote action on climate change in northern Canada,' the NCE's report states.

'The NCE is designed to serve as a catalyst for multidisciplinary climate change research in the Canadian North, to facilitate the collection and assessment of scientific and traditional knowledge, and to advance a virtual framework for circumpolar climate change research.'

The Harper Conservatives have claimed they will take climate change seriously but their actions prove otherwise, Bagnell said.

'In the North, we need to adapt to climate change because it's already happening.'

'They're going to allow (the NCE's) doors to close,' Bagnell said.

He's been pushing the issue in the House of Commons but has been disappointed with the government's response on his concerns to date.

According to Feb. 7 records of debates in the House of Commons, federal Environment Minister John Baird said the government is committed to action and not studies.

'Mr. Speaker, the government recognizes the importance to act on greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is having a huge effect not just in Canada, but particularly in our Arctic,' Baird said in response to Bagnell's request for a renewed NCE funding commitment.

'However, this government believes that the time has finished to talk about things, to study things, to reach into promoting things. The time has come to act. That is why this government is taking real action on climate change reduction,' Baird said.

'We have announced our intention to regulate both on greenhouse gases and on clean air. We're very proud of that,' Baird added.

Intentions, Bagnell told the Star, do not equal actions.

According to the NCE's operating budget, the organization receives cash funding from Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada as well as money from the Yukon government.

The NCE, according to the report, also received money from the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation in Dawson City.

Funding in 2005/06, according to the report, included:

$75,000 from the Yukon Department of Environment;

$6,500 from the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources;

$160,000 from Natural Resources Canada;

$72,000 from Environment Canada; and

$5,000 from the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation.

The organization also received $169,000 in in-kind funding from a variety of organizations including Yukon College.

Lewis Rifkind of the Yukon Conservation Society said his organization is hoping funding will be renewed because no other organization has the capacity to do research and information-sharing work being done by the NCE.

'I think it's very important because there's no other group doing it,' Rifkind said.

'Other organizations don't focus specifically on climate change and don't have (NCE's) capacity ...' he said.

Rifkind said he felt it would be difficult for other non-profit organizations to pick up the slack should the NCE not have its funding renewed.

NCE spokespeople could not be reached for comment.