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Deep-Sea Port Location is Big Question As Harper Heads to Arctic

Posted on: Thursday, 10 August 2006, 18:00 CDT

By JENNIFER DITCHBURN

OTTAWA (CP) - Nunavut is abuzz over the Conservative campaign promise of a deep-sea port for the territory as Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes his first official visit to the Arctic this weekend.

The port is the subject of furious lobbying and politicking in Nunavut, and people will be listening closely for any hints about where it might be located. The facility could bring in big bucks for its host community and provide better access to supplies for a number of areas. The increasing number of cruise ships in the Arctic could also find a new place to dock.

From a military perspective, a port could serve as a base for new navy vessels promised by Harper to patrol the northern seas and guard Canada's sovereignty.

And from a political view, Harper hopes the promise of the facility and its economic benefits will attract votes.

The prime minister will be in Iqaluit as the city celebrates the Canadian military with a parade and various exercises. It's his latest stop in a cross-country summer tour, and he's expected to reinforce his commitment to defending sovereignty.

Harper is also likely to hear about climate change in the Arctic, the impacts of which are said to be signals of what's in store for the southern part of Canada in decades to come.

Melting glaciers and rising sea levels are threatening communities and wildlife in the region. Areas that depend on ice bridges for transportation of goods in the winter months are finding the season for those frozen roads is getting shorter and shorter.

Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik has met with Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and officials looking at the possible locations for the new port. Her city was originally touted by the Conservatives as the location for the facility.

"The infrastructure is key," she said. "We have a huge airport facility here, we have one of the longest airstrips in Canada. If they were to overload here, they could easily fly off to communities. For resupply, we have the services here that could provide that.

"With cruise ships that would definitely increase our tourism . . . our artistic talent is just being discovered."

But Sheutiapik and other city officials are not getting the favour of Premier Paul Okalik, who has said he'll support any location in the territory.

One of his cabinet ministers is supporting an area on the south end of Baffin Island called Kimmirut, which could be connected to Iqaluit with a new highway.

And recently Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley threw Tuktoyaktuk into the mix as a possibility.

Retired Col. Pierre Leblanc, former commander of the Canadian Forces in the North, said the place that makes the most sense from a defence perspective is Resolute, a potential gateway to the ever widening Northwest passage.

"If you were to combine everybody - customs, immigration, RCMP, Canadian Forces and Coast Guard - they could all use effectively a facility in Resolute Bay that wouldn't have to be open all year round," said Leblanc, now a consultant for the diamond industry.

"Because it's sitting on the Northwest passage, it could also have sub-surface surveillance systems to spot any nuclear submarines that are transiting the Arctic. And all these activities would reinforce our claims to sovereignty in the Arctic archipelago."

Source: Canadian Press

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