Yellowknife, N.W.T. - NWT premier Bob McLeod was one of thousands of delegates in Montreal for the International Polar Year Conference, but he found time to talk with one of his colleagues.

McLeod sat down with Quebec premier Jean Charest on Monday and their discussions ranged from diamond mining in the North to Northern development.

McLeod said the pair also spoke about Quebec's lofty Plan Nord initiative, which is described as the province's single-biggest project ever and it may find its way into the GNWT's future economic development plans.

"I told him that I hope he didn't mind, but we'd probably copy a lot of his initiatives that are in the Plan Nord, and he encouraged us to do so."

The 25-year plan is expected to be an economic, social and environmental investment of up to $80 billion and is expected to create 20,000 jobs per year in the province.

McLeod said he wants to do something similar, but there is the federal government to worry about.

"We have to take a bit of a different approach, but I think a lot of the objectives and how they develop the North are very consistent."

Once devolution comes, McLeod said the NWT can begin to implement something similar to the Plan Nord.

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