The Canadian government will not wait idly for the U.S. Congress to pass legislation opening up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for drilling, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Aug. 23.
Having raised Canada’s objections “on a number of occasions” with President George W. Bush, he said he is “not going to give up” at this late stage.
Martin said his government will “pull out all of the stops in trying to maintain the ecological integrity” of ANWR.
Beyond that he did not specify what measures might be taken.
Canada has argued that drilling on the 1.65 million acres of the refuge’s coastal plain could threaten the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou, an important food source for the Yukon’s Vuntut Gwich’in people.
Hard line related to trade irritants
Martin’s stance on ANWR was part of a hard line he is developing against Washington over a series of trade irritants.
During a three-day meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan, of Liberal government Members of Parliament, he said his government intends to retaliate against the United States over its refusal to heed a North American Free Trade Agreement panel ruling to lift import duties on Canadian softwood lumber.
“The American position is absolutely untenable,” he said.
Martin, Industry Minister David Emerson, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said penalties will be slapped on some U.S. imports once the government determines what retaliatory tariffs will be most effective as a wake up call to the Bush administration.
“Any means to get their attention, as far as I am concerned, would be fair at this time,” Pettigrew said.
Emerson, however, said Canada should not try to penalize the U.S. by imposing tariffs or quotas on energy exports.
Martin has indicated he will speak with Bush once the retaliatory measures have been chosen.
—Gary Park
