Prime Minister Stephen Harper returns to the Arctic this week looking to wax and polish what observers say will be an important plank in a Conservative election platform.
It's his fourth visit in three years and he's got cabinet ministers and spending announcements in tow.
Harper arrives Tuesday in Inuvik, N.W.T., for a three-day visit that will take him from the heart of the Arctic's ever-hopeful energy industry to Tuktoyaktuk on the tip of the Mackenzie Delta to the historic gold rush town of Dawson in the Yukon.
A senior government official said when the visit was announced that it demonstrates the significance Harper places on the North, especially the growing "geopolitical importance" of the melting Northwest Passage. Observers say the Tories are likely to use their record on Arctic sovereignty as a selling point in a federal election campaign this fall.
There have been indications from officials that announcements will include one on infrastructure and another that would put "boots on the ground."
N.W.T. Premier Floyd Roland knows what he would like Harper to announce.
"(We want him) to follow through with what I think was a very good term from back in (former prime minister John) Diefenbaker's days -- roads to resources," Roland said.
The N.W.T. premier has long campaigned for a highway up the Mackenzie Valley that would link Inuvik and Yellowknife. It's a plan originally floated by the Conservative Diefenbaker government in the 1960s for a road to open up the territory's mineral-rich central barrens.
"The corridor down the Mackenzie Valley opens up communities as well as economic opportunities -- as well as securing northern sovereignty in our area," Roland said.
There are others who are also concerned about transportation in the North. Earlier this month, truckers threatened to block the Dempster Highway between Inuvik and Dawson in protest over the roadway's poor quality.
Roland will be meeting with Harper during the Inuvik visit.
On the energy front, some will be looking for an announcement on the proposed $16-billion natural gas pipeline that would carry abundant supplies from the Mackenzie Delta to southern markets and open the entire basin to exploration and development. A possible role for Ottawa in refinancing the project's ballooning budget has been a subject of speculation for months.
Others are hoping for money for a network of Arctic research centres to beef up the one that already exists in Inuvik.
Whatever Harper is bringing with him, it will add to an already long list of promises his government has made for the Arctic. That list includes a military port, a winter warfare school, Arctic patrol vessels and a state-of-the-art icebreaker.
The Conservatives have also announced the creation of a number of protected regions in the N.W.T.
The visit will include a meeting in Inuvik of the federal cabinet's priorities and planning committee. That will bring influential politicians such as Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to town.
The Tories likely view the N.W.T.'s single parliamentary seat as one they can win. The party has gone from having little organization in the Western Arctic to a formidable force. Former territorial cabinet minister Brendan Bell is their nominated candidate.
