Canada Ups Military Presence in Disputed Arctic
Pastor Dale Morgan
Jul 9, 3:24 PM EDT
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Canada Ups Military Presence in Disputed Arctic*
By ROB GILLIES
Associated Press Writer
TORONTO (AP) -- Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic
military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest
Passage - a potentially oil-rich region the United States says is
international territory.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said six to eight patrol ships will guard
what he says are Canadian waters. A deep water port will also be built
in a region the U.S. Geological Survey estimates has as much as 25
percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.
U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins has criticized Harper's promise to defend
the Arctic, claiming the Northwest Passage as "neutral waters."
As global warming melts the passage - which now is only navigable during
a slim window in the summer - the waters are exposing unexplored
resources such as oil, fishing stocks and minerals, and becoming an
attractive shipping route. Commercial ships can shave off some 2,480
miles from Europe to Asia compared with the current routes through the
Panama Canal.
The disputed route runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the
Arctic archipelago. Canadians have long claimed the waters, but their
government has generally turned a blind eye to the United States, which
has sent naval vessels and submarines through what it considers an
international strait.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the ice cap is
warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding, partly
due to greenhouse gases.
Harper said the Arctic is central to the Canadian identity.
"Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the
Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this
government intends to use it," Harper said.
"The ongoing discovery of the north's resource riches coupled with the
potential impact of climate change has made the region a growing area of
interest and concern," he added.
Canada also wants to assert its claim over Hans Island, which is at the
eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.
The half-square-mile rock, just one-seventh the size of New York's
Central Park, is wedged between Canada's Ellesmere Island and
Danish-ruled Greenland, and for more than 20 years has been a subject of
unusually bitter exchanges between the two NATO allies.
In 1984, Denmark's minister for Greenland affairs, Tom Hoeyem, caused a
stir when he flew in on a chartered helicopter, raised a Danish flag on
the island, buried a bottle of brandy at the base of the flagpole and
left a note saying: "Welcome to the Danish island."
The dispute flared again two years ago when former Canadian Defense
Minister Bill Graham set foot on the rock while Canadian troops hoisted
the Maple Leaf flag.
Denmark sent a letter of protest to Ottawa, while Canadians and Danes
took out competing Google ads, each proclaiming sovereignty over the
rock 680 miles south of the North Pole.
Some Canadians even called for a boycott of Danish pastries.
Harper did not name the location of the new port but said it will serve
as a naval operating base and for commercial purposes.