Jonesy, I agree everything you wrote in your post.

Morrison did work at Vale and Falconbridge(was swallowed up by Xstrata)..

...and I can't help but wonder why he made those comments.

I wonder if he is aware of the road built below or the grand opening last month??

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2017/04/19/75655/

The current road ends in Inuvik in the Northwest Territories over 120 kilometres (air direct) south of “Tuk”.  The new road will be a 187 kilometre route winding around lakes and muskeg patches.

Grand opening was last month:

https://spectacularnwt.com/events/inuvik-tuktoyaktuk-highway-grand-opening