NORPEC

Spurred by the prospects of massive energy deposits in the Arctic and the possibility that warming temeratures might expand economic opportunities in the north (so global warming isn't the unmitigated looming disaster Gorean proclaim it to be?), Canada will increase their land and naval power in the north:

Ottawa said last month it would spend C$3.1 billion to buy at least six new patrol ships for the area.

The government said on Friday it will also spend C$4 million refurbishing a facility in Resolute Bay that will allow year-round training of military forces in the Arctic.

Canada now relies largely on the Canadian Rangers to conduct surveillance and sovereignty patrols in remote areas of the Arctic. The 4,000-member Rangers are part-time reservists, many of whom are Inuit or native Indian.

Harper said Ottawa would spend C$45 million to provide the Rangers with newer equipment and to expand the force by 900 members.

A former backwater where Canada's disputed sovereignty whose status was once academic, is now a crucial question for Canada to answer. And the rest of the Arctic could be a giant Santa's workshop od energy production. Luckily, despite the money involved, the dispute is, aside from Russia, among friends of America, Canada, Denmark, and Norway.