On July 22, at a meeting between Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President George W. Bush, Canadian truckers got a taste of what might be in store for their country. Reporters and truckers listening to the debate on where to place the pipeline from the Arctic Refuge were treated to some uncensored remarks heard over an open mike.

Chretien inadvertently reveled his stand on the debate over where to build a new natural gas pipeline from the Arctic to the U.S. He indicated he wants a pipeline to go through the Northwest Territories to get Canadian gas to market.

A Canadian news source, Canoe.com, reported there has been a lot of competition for the Prime Minister's support, until his private conversation with Bush was broadcast at the Group of Eight summit in Genoa.

Until Sunday, the Canadian government had remained neutral on competing pipeline proposals. The Mackenzie Valley proposal is expected to cost $3 billion, while the competing route which would run along the Alaska Highway, has been set at $9 billion.

Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories all have been lobbying hard for a pipeline route. Billions of dollars in jobs and taxes are at stake.

One route would follow the Alaska Highway through Alaska and the Yukon, although that would leave Canadian gas in Northwest Territories stranded. The other route would bypass those jurisdictions and go undersea from Alaska to the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories.

Meanwhile, opposition to the pipeline continues to grow in the U.S. Last week a House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce agreed to amend a piece of draft energy legislation to outlaw a gas pipeline under the Beaufort Sea. The amendment is nearly the duplicate of similar legislation passed in the Alaska state legislature this session.

Northwest Territories Premier Stephen Kakfwi said July 23 that his government has long maintained a stand-alone pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley. Reportedly, he said Chretien's support "is welcome words for those promoting development of the N.W.T.

Alaska governor Tony Knowles, is also looking at the issue because an earlier meeting with Chretien had led him to believe the Canadian government would be neutral on the issue of a pipeline route. "There's obviously a number of concerns here," said Robert King, Knowle's press secretary. "I don't know that a comment overheard in Genoa represents a decision."