The exercise involving a range of military forces is part of Ottawa's increasingly high-profile push to assert Canada's sovereignty in the vast but sparsely populated region that includes the fabled Northwest Passage waterway.
Some of Canada's claims to the Northwest Passage have been challenged by other countries, including the United States, and interest over the Arctic's natural resources has increased with the prospect that global warming and disappearing sea ice will make them easier to get.
Russia is more of a problem for Canada in the Arctic Sea than we are, I dare say. We can probably come to some sort of agreement that limits the physical and practical scope Canadian claims in exchange for our acceptance of official Canadian sovereignty (e.g., in some places we accept Canadian sovereignty but Canada agrees by treaty to never interfere with travel through those waters).
Ultimately, Canada is becoming the frontline of NATO as Russia looks north.
I still think we need a Polar Command.
