| With increasing non-renewable resource development activities, coupled with the need to respond to a legacy of past resource development project environmental liabilities, all participants within the Northwest Territories regulatory regime have a heightened awareness of the need for additional evidence based information (factual, quantifiable and defensible proof) of the benefits and costs associated with resource development activities. Based on publicly available information and confidential surveys, this research thesis concluded that full cost accounting principles, despite current limitations, have the potential to become another utility tool that should be employed in cost benefit analysis and the final approval process for resource development projects in the NWT, and indeed elsewhere. Ultimately, it is the preponderance of evidence made available by a range of defensible analytical tools respecting project benefits and costs that should facilitate an informed and accountable decision-making process committed to delineating the realpolitik of 'net' benefits or costs. |
