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Harper announces millions to bolster Canada’s Arctic presence

by Susan Jones | August 10, 2007 at 10:51 am | 321 views | add comment

Kick'n it up a notch, Canadian style! Toss money at it!

Harper announces millions to bolster Canada’s Arctic presence

Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, August 10, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up his three-day northern sovereignty tour with a bang on Friday as he announced the construction of a pair of multimillion-dollar military facilities within the contested waters of Canada's Arctic territory.

"Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: Use it or lose it," he said in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, about 600 kilometres from the magnetic North Pole. "Today's announcements tell the world that Canada has a real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic."

The facilities consist of a new army training centre and a deep-sea port inside of the Northwest Passage, which is expected to provide a summer shipping route to Asia over the next few decades because of the effects of global warming and melting ice flows.