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Canada PM launches a tour to assert Arctic sovereignty
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-20 11:51

 

Canada PM launches a tour to assert Arctic sovereignty
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (third from left) and cabinet members eat seal meat in Iqaluit, Nunavut, on Tuesday. [Agencies]

IQALUIT, Nunavut: Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched a tour to assert Canada's Arctic sovereignty claims on Tuesday, saying the government was not ignoring the vast but sparsely populated region's economic ills.

Canada, Russia, the United States and Denmark are among the northern nations that in recent years have been exerting sometimes competing sovereignty claims at the top of the world with an eye on the Arctic's rich natural resources.

As the scramble heats up, Harper's annual summer trek to the wild north has become the symbol of Canada's increasing determination to pronounce its claims. During his five-day tour -- his fourth trip to the polar area since he came into office in 2006 -- Harper will observe military exercises, hold cabinet meetings and make important announcements.

"We know the gaze of other nations is increasingly focused here, in our Arctic. By working to reach this region's full potential, full economic potential, we are strengthening its people and we are strengthening the sovereignty of our country," Harper told an audience in Iqaluit, an isolated community of about 7,250 on Baffin Island, after announcing the creation of an economic development agency for the Far North on Tuesday.

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The agency would be headquartered in Iqaluit, not in the far away federal capital of Ottawa, he said.

Flexing military muscle

Yesterday, Harper was due to board a frigate and then a submarine to observe Operation Nanook, Canada's five-year-old annual military exercise in the Arctic.

This year, Operation Nanook, running from August 6 to 28, involves about 700 military personnel on land, sea and in the air, making it the largest yet.

Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Norway too have beefed up their military presence in the region.

In July, a Russian general announced plans to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first parachute drop at the North Pole by sending paratroopers to the same site.

As a response, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the Canadian government was closely watching Russian plans and any country approaching Canadian airspace would be met by Canadians.

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