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Harper waves Arctic flag; plans negotiations with Alaska to establish Beaufort boundary
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just wrapped up his fifth annual summer swing through the Arctic, “vigorously defending” Canada’s sovereignty claims in the region, pitching a new Arctic foreign policy statement and making a case for a commercially-viable, environmentally-sound development of petroleum and mineral resources at a time when hope is in short supply.
The curtain-raiser for the trip occurred Aug. 20, when Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon trundled out a new 27-page, four-pillar strategy for the Far North that targets the creation of a “rules-based region” with clearly defined boundaries, along with economic growth and trade leading to “vibrant northern communities and healthy, productive ecosystems.”
He said the statement represents a “strengthened platform from which we will send out a message to the world; a message of leadership and stewardship, but firmly rooted in our commitment to sovereignty in the North.”
Harper was even more emphatic that the “number one priority of our northern strategy is the promotion and protection of Canadian sovereignty in the North” — a goal he described as “non-negotiable.”
Cannon said Canada dismissed the premise suggested by “some” that the Arctic “requires a fundamentally new governance structure, or legal requirement.”
Boundary for Alaska, Yukon and who gets Hans Island He said one of Canada’s overriding objectives is to start negotiations with the United States and Denmark on the remaining disputed boundaries — the line separating Alaska and the Yukon in the Beaufort Sea and control of Hans Island, a pinprick, uninhabited knoll between Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland.
He said Canada is determined to advance its sovereignty agenda by making progress on the boundary issues to secure “recognition of the full extent of the extended continental shelf.”
Cannon has also scheduled a meeting this fall with his counterparts in Russia, Norway and Finland to discuss Arctic matters.
He said Canada will meet the United Nations deadline of 2013 for data submissions bolstering its claims to the ocean floor.
Layton criticizes willingness to use military force Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party, said it makes more sense for the government to focus on resolving the border issues rather than threatening to flex Canada’s military muscle in the Arctic.
“The idea that we can purchase large military vessels and go to war with other countries if there are boundary issues is ridiculous,” he said.
But Cannon argued that it “makes a great deal of sense” for Canada to exercise and assert its control over its Arctic territorial claims.
“For far too long the Arctic hasn’t been spoken for,” he told reporters.
In previous visits to the North, Harper has defended annual military exercises, noting that Canada “has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty in the Arctic: either we use it or we lose it.”
His latest trip — which included observing an oil-spill cleanup training exercise — coincided with a heightened public concern for the environmental integrity of the Arctic, with glaciers breaking loose and offshore drilling under intense scrutiny at a time when the future of the oil and gas industry in the Far North hangs by a thread.
Even if the National Energy Board and Canadian government give a green light this fall to the Mackenzie Gas Project, or MGP, and the corporate partners decide to proceed after a decade of planning and regulatory hearings, some doubt that Arctic gas could compete with North America’s shale gas.
And the MGP is the springboard to oil and gas exploration in the Beaufort Sea, where a partnership of Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil and BP and a solo effort by Chevron Canada are embarking on seismic programs to possibly drill deepwater licenses within five years.
Canada committed to Arctic development Regardless of the growing resistance among environmentalists and aboriginal residents of Canada’s three northern territories to resource exploitation, the Canadian government is committed to creating a “dynamic, sustainable northern economy and improving the social well-being” of northerners as an essential element of “exercising our sovereignty.”
The Arctic foreign policy statement said the petroleum and mining potential of the North underpins the government’s investment in mapping those resources.
The latest contribution, announced Aug. 20 by Yukon Senator Daniel Lang, involves C$21.8 million of federal spending over five years on environmental and socio-economic research to “gather new information vital to future management of the Beaufort Sea.”
Lang said the data will help regulators such as the National Energy Board make decisions on oil and gas exploration and development.
Northerners, especially the Inuvialuit people who live near the Beaufort, will have a role in advancing the “research priorities” along with industry and regulators.
Nellie Cournoyea, a former premier of the Northwest Territories and now chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corp., said any moves to allow drilling in the Beaufort must be accompanied by a “comprehensive understanding” of the potential impacts on the Beaufort before any exploration permit is issued.
The federal policy statement said that in addition to the mapping investment, the government is pledged to improving regulatory systems across the North, to creating a Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and to supporting improvement in indigenous skills and employment.
“As an emerging energy superpower, Canada will continue to support the responsible and sustainable development of oil and gas in the North,” the statement said.
To that end, mindful of BP’s Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, it recognizes the values the importance of working closely with other Arctic states to take every step possible to prevent such a “terrible” incident in Canadian waters, which means no drilling will be allowed until at least 2014.
The statement also noted that the Arctic Council, comprising eight countries with claims to the region, has examined the impacts of oil and gas activities in the Arctic and, last year, issued new guidelines covering standards, technical and environmental best practices, management policy and regulatory controls.
—Gary Park
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