• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Harper Announces Ships, Deepwater Port to Protect Canadian Sovereignty

Posted on: Monday, 9 July 2007, 18:17 CDT

By DIRK MEISSNER

ESQUIMALT. B.C. (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's modified an election promise to use big ice breakers to protect Canada's sovereignty in the North with a new plan to employ smaller, but more versatile, ships.

Ottawa will invest in new patrol ships and a deepwater port to protect Canadian sovereignty on all three coasts, Harper said Monday while standing on the jetty at Canada's Pacific Naval headquarters at CFB Esquimalt.

Harper said six to eight new patrol ships will be designed and built in Canada to guard its coastal waters, including the Northwest Passage. The cost is estimated at $7 billion over 25 years.

Harper originally promised during the last election campaign to build three heavy ice breakers to help assert Canada's sovereignty in the North. The government will now go with smaller ships after discussions within government and the military, he said.

"We went with more of the medium icebreakers, that frankly allow us to patrol the arctic waters in the Northwest Passage when it matters," said Harper. "We opted in the end for medium ice breakers, far more of them, and with the capability to patrol a wide range of Canadian waters."

There will be a new deepwater port in the Far North, for both military and commercial use, said Harper, with the location will be announced later.

"The North is poised to take a much bigger role in Canada," said Harper, suggesting its economic fortunes are on the rise, but environmental concerns, especially global warming, will make the area a top priority for the government.

Canada must maintain a strong presence in the Arctic, some of which is disputed territory, he said.

"Either we use it or we lose it," he said. "And make no mistake this government intends to use it because Canada's Arctic is central to our identity as a northern nation."

The region is becoming increasingly important for its natural resources and as Arctic ice melts, making the Northwest Passage easier to navigate.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms have never been more urgent," Harper said. "Our expectation is over the next 25 years you're going to see an increasing range of human activity in that part of the world that you haven't seen in the past 100 years."

The ships with steel-reinforced hulls will be able to go through ice a metre thick and will be armed and equipped with helicopter landing pads to accommodate the new CH-148 Cyclone helicopters being purchased by the military.

The deepwater port will be a forward operating base for the new ships, estimated recently to cost about $300 million each. The port will be geared for civilian commercial use as well.

Vice-Admiral Drew Robertson said the new patrol ships will provide much-needed support for Canada's northern ventures -military and government - and they will send a message to others that Canada is serious about protecting its territory.

"These ships will significantly enhance the Navy's ability to provide armed support to other government departments for enforcing sovereignty and security in all three of Canada's ocean approaches," said Robertson, the Navy's chief of maritime staff.

"The Arctic offshore ship project will contribute to building a fleet that can both patrol our own maritime backyard and also influence events in far distant waters long before potential threats arrive off our shores."

Source: Canadian Press

More News in this Category