Industry Minister Jim Prentice will continue working on the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project, even though he is no longer Indian and northern affairs minister — a move that has pleased pipeline proponents and continued to frustrate critics.

Officials with Prentice's office confirmed to CBC News on Thursday that he would retain responsibility for the pipeline file, even after Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved him to the industry portfolio during Tuesday's cabinet shuffle.

Jim Prentice, left, sworn in as industry minister as Prime Minister Stephen Harper looks on Tuesday, is the fifth minister in eight years to work on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline proposal.
(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Former agriculture minister Chuck Strahl has taken over as Indian and northern affairs minister.

"We have a good working relationship with Mr. Prentice," said former Northwest Territories premier Nellie Cournoyea, now CEO and chairwoman of the Inuvialuit Regional Corp., on Thursday.

Prentice is the fifth minister in the last eight years to work on the pipeline proposal, which would run natural gas about 1,200 kilometres through the Northwest Territories to southern markets.

The project is in the regulatory process, with hearings of the joint review panel coming up Aug. 27-31 in Yellowknife.

Cournoyea told CBC News that she had lobbied to have Prentice stay involved with the pipeline, in order to provide continuity on a complex issue.

"Prentice knows the file and his support of responsible economic development really suits where we want to go with the pipeline file," she said.

But Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, said he believes Harper's move to keep Prentice involved in the pipeline proposal says more about the project's importance to Alberta, not the North.

"Jim Prentice represents a Calgary riding, and the Calgary ridings are where most of the economic benefits associated with the Mackenzie Gas Project are going to go," Hazell said.

"Some will go to Edmonton too, and then a little bit will go to the North."

Hazell said he fears the Conservative government will negotiate subsidies with the profitable gas producers behind the project to ensure the pipeline is built.

Imperial Oil is the lead proponent of the pipeline, which also includes Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell Canada and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

The pipeline's critics, which include the Sierra Club and World Wildlife Fund of Canada, have argued for further study of its environmental and social impacts.