Premier Sandy Silver led a delegation of Canadian premiers to Washington, D.C. this week.

The purpose was to meet with U.S. lawmakers ahead of upcoming renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Silver chairs the coalition of Canadian premiers known as the Council of the Federation. He helmed discussions on energy, infrastructure and telecommunications, among other subjects, with American congressman and senators.

Today, seven premiers, including Silver and Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod, participated in a panel discussion on the future of North American trade hosted by the Wilson Centre’s Canada Institute.

At the talk, Silver expressed how important it is for Canada and the U.S. to share a “thin, thin border when it comes to our trade.”

“NAFTA’s not going to go away,” he said.

The Yukon is ripe for new iron-ore mining projects, he added, but that industry needs certainty when it comes to regulation.

Silver doesn’t object to a “modernization” of Canada’s 1993 trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico.

In a telephone interview with the Star Wednesday afternoon, Silver said “things are moving quickly” toward renegotiating NAFTA.

Silver used his “clout, for lack of a better word,” as chair to raise Yukon issues with the American politicians.

In bilateral talks with Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and congressman Don Young of Alaska, Silver raised the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling, and the Shakwak Agreement, which deals with the upkeep of the Alaska Highway between Beaver Creek and Haines, Alaska.

After her re-election in November 2016, Murkowski promised to open up the wildlife refuge to oil and gas exploration.

Drilling in the region will have devastating consequences for the Porcupine caribou herd that migrates through the Alaskan coastal plain, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, say Vuntut Gwitchin and environmental advocates.

Beyond providing food and materials, the Porcupine caribou play a central role in Vuntut Gwitchin life and culture.

Silver relayed to Murkowski the importance of protecting the refuge and the caribou herd.

The Alaskan senator, however, remained firm in her belief that drilling would be a life raft for her state’s floundering economy.

“We’ve been very clear on our desire for protection of such an important part of our history and culture, and she’s been very clear on her point that her state is going through a deficit,” Silver told the Star.

The premier is optimistic that certain Republican senators will support the Yukon’s anti-drilling position in the Arctic refuge.

“There’s some pretty powerful lobbyists on this file from the Vuntut people in both Alaska and the Yukon, and other organizations as well,” he said.

It seems little to no movement was made on the Shakwak front this week.

Under the Shakwak Agreement, the U.S., Canadian and Yukon governments share responsibility for maintaining the stretch of highway that connects mainland Alaska to the panhandle.

The U.S. however, stopped paying its share in 2012.

“Whether it’s NAFTA ... or Shakwak, the common theme on both that we were really portraying is you don’t know a good thing until it’s gone,” said Silver.

While the premiers were promoting their regional interests in D.C., in Ottawa, Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister signaled a slight rift in Canada’s relationship with the U.S.

In a speech to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Chrystia Freeland said that as the U.S. turns inward, Canada must rethink its role on the world stage, particularly in terms of military might.

“The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership, puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course,” Freeland said.

“For Canada, that course must be the renewal, indeed the strengthening, of the postwar multilateral order.”

Freeland’s speech foreshadowed the announcement from Ottawa Wednesday that Canada would increase its defence spending by 70 per cent over 10 years.

Freeland’s comments came up a couple times during the talks in Washington, said Silver.

“But what we heard from the politicians down south is ‘We get it, that’s a politician's political statements,’” he said.