Ridiculous article.....
David Harries
...that disses the idea of revitalizing Churchill, while pretending Canada has meaningful military 'capacity' in the ARCTIC.
Pierre Polievre wants a Churchill base, but experts debate northern Manitoba town's military capacity
Town isn't far enough north to deal with Arctic needs, south enough to protect larger cities: prof
At the moment, there are eight staffed military sites in Canada’s Arctic, the largest of which is in Yellowknife. There are also facilities in Whitehorse, Iqaluit, Inuvik and a few other communities.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pierre-polievre-churchill-military-base-9.7069738
1. Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Iqaluit and each 100s of km SOUTH of the ARCTIC Circle....with no road or rail systems heading towards the ARCTIC.....and none promised.
2. Canadian military 'staff' in sites NORTH of the Arctic Circle would all have seats on one standard school bus.
I write this admitting to not being up to date on how many CF soldiers, sailors and airforce members now serve at CFS Alert and ?CFS? Inuvik.
3. Churchill was 'far enough north' to 'deal with Arctic needs' in the 1970s and early 1980s when.....1) Canada had real military Arctic capabilities including significant infrastructure in Churchill and 2) the railway to Churchill was 'Canadian' and 3) northern and arctic national development was underway in several locations and 4) Nanasivik was an operational mine/port and 5) maritime ice conditions were much more challenging for longer every year, than those today and 5) technology effective in and appropriate for 'the north' that exists today had not even been imagined and 6)......
4. " far enough....south enough to protect larger cities". What does this mean?
-That if Churchill was close(r) to Winnipeg, it could protect Winnipeg?
-That military people and military systems located in one place will have missions based on how 'close' that place is to another...that might need (additional?) protection?
What does this geographic metric imply about, say Yellowknife's, potential for southern cities' "protection" ?
5. FYI: ‘We don’t have highways,’ Arctic premiers say amid sovereignty push
Story by Sean Boynton 30 Jan
N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson and Nunavut Premier John Main made the case for investing in the North while speaking to the House of Commons foreign affairs committee for their study of Canada's Arctic strategy. The study has gained further urgency after U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to take over Greenland, which Main reminded the committee is just 26 km away from Nunavut. As concerns grow about Trump eying Canada's Arctic as well, the premiers said further building out infrastructure in their territories' many remote and Indigenous communities will be key to reinforcing sovereignty.
6. Canada is still not capable of even CONVENING major MEETINGS on ARCTIC matters NORTH of the Arctic Circle.
a. https://treefrogcreative.ca/arctic-bioenergy-summit-heads-to-yellowknife-jan-26-28-2026/
b. https://ourarcticsummit.ca/ Hosted in Whitehorse, Yukon, February 23–25, 2026, the Summit will convene governments, Indigenous leaders, businesses, and partners from across the Arctic and beyond.
c.Ms. Anand, in a speech at the Nordic-Canadian Arctic Symposium in Ottawa on Wednesday, 28 Jan 2026 said the debate over the future of Greenland ......has underlined the fact the Arctic is now no longer a low-tension region.
DH
David Harries
Marius,
Re Cold. In winter 1981/82 many of us of the by-then Petawawa-emasculated Canadian Airborne Regiment boarded our school busses for the 5 hour trip to Trenton (where more than one airplane could operate from) for an overnight stay (in cool cadet-camp shacks) before, the next morning, Herc-ing up for the drop outside Earlton - Ontario. The temperature was reported as -53 something, but it was sunny with no wind...so slow down into deep snow was almost fun.
The exercise is well- remembered because we had been ordered to include 20-some american soldiers from Fort Drum, for whom we went to outrageous lengths beforehand to teach how to live well in extreme cold.
Nevertheless, even with a (multi-national) buddy system in place, a number of the americans suffered frostbite after only a few hours on the ground, some seriously.
This stopped the exercise.... and provoked an 'international incident'....that included charges we Canadians had failed to properly train the americans.
Fortunately, if finally (well into the summer), the charges died: We had kept copious notes .....
Re: Churchill port etc: Shipping is now possible (up to nearly) nine months of the year. Almost counterintuitively, the 'end of ice' era has created a new challenge: In extremely windy weather, even ships with ice-ready hulls are challenged to maintain steerage against ever-more wind-driven loose ice.
((Arguably, this 'new' challenge is the reason the US icebreaker was recently called upon to 'rescue' the (schedule of the) cruise ship in Antarctic waters.))
D
------ Original Message ------
From: mgri...@gmail.com
To: jdsha...@bell.net Cc: cdnpug...@googlegroups.com; arctic-nuclea...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, February 1st 2026, 14:24
Subject: Re: [CPG] Ridiculous article.....
As a junior officer I deployed to Churchill with my soldiers in Nov/Dec 1972 as part of Ex New Viking to learn how to survive and fight in the Arctic. As we trudged forward on our snowshoes, with backpacks and weapons, pulling a sledge with our tent and supplies, we were accompanied by an APC 24/7 to shoo away all those curious polar bears. We then deployed north to Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit, where our real adventure started with temperatures dipping to -50C with a bonus of another -30C of windchill.
I recall that Churchill had super long runways to accommodate B-52 bombers in times of Cold War crisis. There is a rail line that runs from Winnipeg to Churchill. There is also a dilapidated port facility that can be resuscitated. With global warming Churchill could be used in the summer/fall months for trans-shipment of agricultural products and energy from the west and on to Europe. Will the short shipping season make Churchill a viable infrastructure project? I am not sure. Studies on the subject have been done and may need to be updated.
A show of Canadian sovereignty in our Arctic? Yes, by all means. But it has to be credible, sustainable and continuous.marius
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