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| ELECTORNIC EDITION |
| 2007-09-26 |
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GLOBAL CHINESE PRESS |
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NDP slams Ottawa over 'wrong-headed' approach to North
2007-09-26 13:36 The Canadian Press | The New Democrats are calling for a national debate on the Arctic, saying the Harper government is needlessly militarizing the North instead of focusing on its environment and people.
In the party's new Arctic policy, released Wednesday in Ottawa, the NDP says Canada can realize its control over the Northwest Passage using civilian agencies such as the Coast Guard and through diplomatic channels.
"If the Coast Guard is good enough to patrol and enforce Canadian law on the east and west coasts of Canada, the Coast Guard can play this role in the High Arctic as well," Dennis Bevington, MP for the Western Arctic, told The Canadian Press.
NDP Leader Jack Layton toured the Arctic this summer and stopped in communities from Yellowknife to Pangnirtung. His visit came shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper's trip, during which he announced the location of a new military deep-water port and winter warfare school.
Harper has also announced the purchase of new Arctic patrol vessels.
Bevington said those initiatives, which were announced without any debate in the House of Commons, are wrong.
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'We need to sustain the North'
"The prime minister said, 'Use it or lose it,"' said Bevington. "I think that's completely wrong. We need to sustain the North or lose it."
Instead of the $7-billion program to build up to eight military patrol vessels, the government would do better to spend the money updating the Coast Guard's icebreaker fleet, he said. The vessels could then be depended upon to monitor and police Arctic waters.
He said Canada should also increase its diplomatic efforts in the United States and work with those who are onside over the Northwest Passage, such as former ambassador Paul Celluci.
"To simply say that the military's the way to do it is wrong-headed."
Bevington said militarizing the North gives the Conservatives a way to look tough on sovereignty without seriously upsetting Washington.
The government should focus far more energy on infrastructure that would allow northerners to develop a sustainable and self-sufficient economy, the New Democrats say. That includes an all-weather highway up the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories and small-craft harbours for communities in Nunavut.
That would allow northerners to stop depending on federal handouts and contribute more to the country — a development that would rekindle Canadian interest in the North, suggested Bevington.
A debate in Parliament would help accomplish the same thing, he said.
"We need to bring out that passion for the North in Parliament. I absolutely think there's a passion for the North among Canadians. We truly identify ourselves as a northern people." |
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