Well, when Harper withdrew from Kyoto, some said it was because he wanted to avoid wasting billions of dollars on non-compliance fees, while others said he wanted the ice caps to melt in order expand the Canadian Empire northward. Today, the latter camp has been proven right.
According to documents obtained by Postmedia News, the military will be stockpiling military equipment in dedicated hubs throughout the arctic. In classic Canadian fashion, the Canadian forces have told us where the hubs are located. If you want to unearth the troves of Canadian military equipment, they’ll be at the bases in Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Resolute Bay and Inuvik. While Iqaluit and Yellowknife boast Tim Horton’s (and Inuvik has a KFC/Pizza Hut inside a Northmart), Resolute Bay appears to be entirely devoid of Canada’s Best Coffee (Tim, you can keep that one).
In all seriousness, stationing Canada’s finest in the arctic is costly, and difficult. In 2012, former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk told parliament that “it is harder to sustain operations in our High Arctic than it is to sustain operations in Kandahar or Kabul because, in the Arctic, it’s what you bring.” Did a General say that Canada’s Arctic is tougher than Kandahar? Take that, Putin. Because Canada’s North is so far isolated from trade routes in the south, energy, food, and all kinds of essential goods are expensive or impossible to find. By opening up these military hubs, the Canadian Forces hope that they can better coordinate these networks, and be able to save money in the long run in the event that Canada needs t0 use the Arctic for something.
And that’s the key. As the ice melts, and Canada tries to expand up the Arctic, having some military ships is going to give us a lot more credibility. As part of Stephen Harper’s annual Northern tour, he’s announced all kinds of news funding for Arctic development, including mines, infrastructure, and naval vessels.
Oh yes.
CBS
Now, understand that I am not in any way claiming that Harper plans to build giant rubber duckies to defend Arctic sovereignty, but just think of the potential. The Russians will look over and think we perfected genetic modification, and welcome them with open arms. Then, out of the ducky would come an elite task force of Canadian Forces agents. The Russians would be defeated, and America Canada will have defeated Communism for another day.
Or, maybe we’ll just build the naval equivalent to F-35s. In any case, just about any development in the Arctic is going to be a good one (except a Russian invasion), and if more infrastructure is being built for these communities, the better.