Filibuster CartoonsTitle: Border priorities (click to view)
Date: August 27, 2010
One of the most boringly chauvinist issues in modern Canadian politics is the matter of "arctic sovereignty," which is to say, Canada's presumed God-given right to control pretty much everything within the Arctic circle, and then some.
I don't know if
your maps are the same way, but most Canadian maps entrust Canada with all of the islands of northern North America, from the 70th parallel all the way up to the North Pole. It's land claim Canadians somewhat irrationally take for granted, considering that Canadians did not discover or colonize, and certainly do not inhabit or control, most of this territory — a reality reflected by the fact that many of the islands don't even have English names. Much of Canada's assertion of ownership over the Arctic consists of nothing more than that — assertion.
A harmless bit of bluster you might say, but in recent years the presumption has taken on a more aggressive tone, as Prime Minister Haprer has loudly proclaimed his intentions to "defend Canadian sovereignty" over the North. Along with the nationalistic appeal, it's a project that significantly excites much of the federal government, who hope to find natural resources up there that can be extracted and taxed without any pesky provincial governments to get in the way, and the military bureaucracy, who are delighted at the prospect of being asked to go around
conquistadoring these northern lands. And if past precedent is any indication, Canada's misadventures in the north will be very much 17th Century in flavor; planting flags, installing plaques, that sort of thing.
All this stuff costs a lot of money, of course, and Harper has yet to put a price tag on his comprehensive "arctic sovereignty" plan, though we know that the individual jets and ice breakers and spy satellites and mountaintop castle commando posts he wants will easily cost into the billions. Again, mostly in the persuit of
theoretical riches, and the apprehension of
theoretical future threats to Canada from the Russians or Americans or whoever.
The constant use of the phrase "sovereignty" to defend our claim to the North is ironic, however, when one considers just how bad the Canadian government has proven itself to be in enforcing our sovereignty everywhere else. Earlier this month we of course had the whole
Tamil refugee incident, and this week the RCMP unveiled another massive domestic terrorism bust, hatched in part by radical Islamist immigrants. And everyone already knows how porous the 49th parallel is. I'd make the case that getting a handle on Canada's Eastern, Western, Southern, and airport borders should take priority over reasserting some imginary right to ownership of Axel-Heiberg Island, but that's just me.
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