WINNIPEG — The much-touted polar bear summit last year in Winnipeg cost taxpayers at least $115,000 and one prominent scientist says it made no real progress toward saving the iconic animal, vancouversun.com says.

“There were lots of good intentions and very little action to date,” said Andrew Derocher, a University of Alberta biology professor who recently finished a four-year stint as the chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s polar bear committee. “There were lots of nice words but no real plan.”

Derocher said the country needs a co-ordinated strategy to halt the bear’s decline, far more research into the health and size of each of Canada’s 13 populations and a real plan to combat such catastrophic events as oil spills from northern pipelines or the rapid melt of sea ice.

Those items were on scientists’ wish list during a high-profile polar bear summit in Winnipeg last January that brought together researchers, Inuit hunting groups and provincial and federal officials.

The Free Press obtained invoices and expense claims under federal access to information legislation that show the one-day meeting at the Fairmont Hotel cost Ottawa more than $116,000 for flights, hotels, meals and event planning.

The meeting was held behind closed doors. Ottawa refused to release an agenda or a list of speakers and several scientists said top researchers weren’t able to present their findings.

The discussion was dominated by ongoing tension between Inuit hunters who say polar bear populations are stable and their traditional knowledge ought to prevail, and researchers and environmentalist who argue the bears are threatened by unsustainable hunting quotas and climate change.

Derocher said climate change was the “elephant in the room” that Ottawa seemed unwilling to tackle during the summit.

Craig Stewart, Arctic programs director at the World Wildlife Fund agreed, but said soon after the Winnipeg meeting Ottawa signed a conservation treaty with four other northern countries that acknowledge climate change as the big reason bears are in trouble.

That agreement was one of the good things to grow out of the Winnipeg meeting, along with Ottawa’s hands-on work mediating a controversy between scientists and hunters over bears around Baffin Bay.

“The minister has shown leadership,” said Stewart. “We just hope the momentum continues.”