Help our mining, housing sectors: Nunavut finance minister to Ottawa

Nunavut's new finance minister called on the federal government to help the territory's ailing mining sector and its severe public housing shortage.

Keith Peterson, who was named finance minister last month, said several mining companies have put their activities on hold because of a lack of cash and credit.

"We urged the government that they should do everything possible to make access to credit and capital a top priority, [and] that they do that through their monetary policies and their relationships with the banks," Peterson told CBC News on Wednesday from Saskatoon, where he met with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and other provincial and territorial finance ministers.

Peterson also asked the federal government to fund 3,000 new public housing units. He also called for funding to upgrade and renovate existing units.

"Every [Nunavut] community needs houses, and if they could help us in that regard [and] put some funding towards social public housing, we could start construction of those fairly easily within the next construction season," he said.

"We were pleasantly surprised that everybody around the table supported that. The N.W.T. has a need for housing as well."

Peterson, along with his fellow finance ministers from across the country, all called for investments in infrastructure in order to keep jobs and businesses going during a time of economic slowdown.

"Accelerate infrastructure spending, recognizing regional priorities," Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie, who is also that territory's finance minister, said after the Saskatoon meeting.

On Wednesday, Fentie made his own infrastructure announcement, authorizing nearly $3 million in additional spending on the Yukon Housing Corp.'s home repair and upgrade incentive program for homeowners and rental property owners.

"That will be dedicated to the uptake, massive uptake of approximately 100-plus applications that exist right now in the Yukon Housing Corp.," he said.

Both Fentie and Peterson said some infrastructure projects will be announced in the future, although they did not specify what kind of projects to expect.

In the meantime, Fentie warned against overreacting to the economy'sdifficulties.

"Don't panic, be very strategic in what we do here, because this situation globally is very fluid," he said. "The wrong thing to do is start expending billions of dollars only to find out you missed the target."

Territorial and provincial premiers will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in January to discuss the economy.