Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the purchase of six to eight new Arctic patrol vessels Monday, following through on a promise to defend the country's northern regions.
Cmdr. Major Bergeron, right, scouts a route through rough ice on Eureka Sound, the inter-island channel separating Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, earlier this year. The last time the remote area in Nunavut was known to have been visited was in 1905, by U.S. explorer Admiral Robert Peary.
(Dianne Whelan/Canadian Press) Harper pledged during the federal election campaign to defend the Arctic, promising to spend billions to buy new underwater sensors, build an army base in Cambridge Bay, construct a deepwater port near Iqaluit and buy three naval ice-breakers.
Monday's announcement wasn't for the purchase of ice-breakers, but of six smaller Arctic patrol vessels.
"Any additional activity or resources that we apply to the North will increase our claim to sovereignty," said Pierre LeBlanc, the former CF commander in the North.
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(Dianne Whelan/Canadian Press)
Monday's announcement wasn't for the purchase of ice-breakers, but of six smaller Arctic patrol vessels.
"Any additional activity or resources that we apply to the North will increase our claim to sovereignty," said Pierre LeBlanc, the former CF commander in the North.
Full Story
How high a priority is Arctic sovereignty to you?
More...