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Harper Announces Army Base, Navy Port to Bolster CanadaIs Claim to Arctic Waters

Posted on: Friday, 10 August 2007, 15:04 CDT

RESOLUTE BAY, Nu. (CP) - Canada will build two new military facilities within contested Arctic waters to bolster its sovereign claim over the fabled Northwest Passage, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday.

He said the Canadian Forces will install a new army training centre and a deepwater port at distant points of the Arctic archipelago that has been coveted for centuries as a possible trade route to Asia.

He made the announcement barely 600 kilometres from the magnetic North Pole in one of the coldest settlements on Earth.

The frigid hamlet of Resolute Bay - with a mid-summer temperature of two degrees when Harper made his announcement - will be home to a new army training centre for cold-weather fighting that houses up to 100 military personnel.

The prime minister also announced that a new deepsea port will be built for navy and civilian purposes on the north end of Baffin Island, in the abandoned old zinc-mining village of Nanisivik.

Harper said both installations will help back up Canada's ownership claim to the waters and natural resources of the Northwest Passage - a claim disputed by countries including the United States, Japan, and the entire European Union.

"Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: Use it or lose it," he said amid howling winds on a barren, rock-strewn highland.

"Today's announcements tell the world that Canada has a real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic."

The multimillion-dollar announcements stem from Conservative campaign commitments in the last election, and Harper's northern trip had been planned for months.

But they happen to coincide with Russia's dramatic move to place a flag underneath the North Pole while claiming the area's resources as its own.

And as he spoke, Danish scientists were preparing to head for the Arctic ice pack on Sunday seeking evidence to position Denmark in the race to claim the potentially vast oil and other resources of the North Pole region.

Harper also announced that the 4,100-member Canadian Rangers patrol will be increased by another 900 members.

He stood alongside Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, who is expected to be moved in a cabinet shuffle early next week. A group of Rangers - the rifle-toting, Inuit volunteer force - were also on hand.

The prime minister flew in for the announcement as planned, even though strong Arctic winds had kept his military aircraft grounded in Yellowknife overnight.

"Taken together . . . (these announcements) will significantly strengthen Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic," Harper said.

"These initiatives will also benefit communities throughout the region by creating jobs and opportunities and enhancing the safety and security of the people who live here."

Canada's ownership claim to the waters has all but ignored by other countries, due largely to the harshness of the barren, frigid climate in which maritime transportation remains impractical.

But with warming temperatures raising the prospect of increased resource exploitation and maritime traffic, the area has attracted renewed attention.

It's not known just how much mineral wealth and other resources lie beneath the archipelago's 36,500 islands and 1.4 million square kilometres - but Canada is eager to claim those riches as its own.

Harper was drawn into a verbal spat immediately after taking office last year with U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, who restated his country's traditional view that Canada can have the islands, but the water is international territory.

The federal government also announced Friday:

-It will cost $4 million to refurbish existing federal buildings at Resolute Bay for the new army training school, and another $2 million a year to operate the centre. It will employ 12 full-time staff, and be used as a command centre and training facility for several dozen soldiers at a time. The government says it chose the site because of its location in the gateway to the High Arctic, and because it already houses some Defence and Natural Resources Canada facilities.

-The expanded Rangers program will cost $240 million over 20 years at an average of $12 million annually. The 60-year-old Rangers program will take on new patrol routes and modernize its equipment, which includes trademark red uniforms and antique rifles.

-The deepwater port will extend the range of military ships in the Arctic through the navigable season, which is roughly June to October.

The new port location, more than 1,000 nautical miles from the Arctic hub of Iqaluit, was chosen for its strategic location at the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.

Environmental studies are slated to begin next year and construction is expected to begin in 2010. The port is expected to become partly operational in 2012 and fully operational by 2015.

The initial construction cost for the port is pegged at up to $100 million, and operating and maintenance costs are projected to be $200 million over 20 years.

Source: Canadian Press

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