Michael Byers on Politics

I'm an academic, author, human rights advocate and environmental activist. I'm also a husband (to Katharine) and father to two impossibly energetic and stubborn young boys. For more on me, please visit the "About" section at the top left-hand corner of this page. For my views on politics, both national and international, please see below!

View from the Reichstag

In Berlin, I was told German history offers a lesson for Canadian democracy.

Michael Byers, TheTyee.ca , 26 January 2012

The glass dome above the Reichstag provides spectacular views of Germany's capital city. But British architect Norman Foster designed the structure to highlight another view: looking down from the edge of the spectator platform, one can see directly into the Bundestag -- the German Parliament.

The symbolism is powerful: the people are above the politicians, and the workings of Parliament are transparent to them.

The Russian Bear dominates the Arctic

To continue its dominance on the Arctic, the Russian Bear needs the help of foreign markets, investors and technologies.

Michael Byers, Al Jazeera.com, 3 January 2011

Vancouver, Canada - In the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October, Marko Ramius, the rogue captain of a Soviet nuclear missile submarine, evades the US and Soviet navies by maneuvering deftly through a narrow and winding - but precisely charted - mid-Atlantic trench.

In real life, the Soviet navy's charting efforts extended to the heart of the NATO-controlled Canadian Arctic. Soviet-era charts on board the Akademik Ioffe, an ice-strengthened ship owned by the Russian Academy of Sciences and chartered by a Canadian eco-cruise company, show many more depth soundings in the Northwest Passage than do comparable Canadian charts.

For the full text, see: Russian Bear

Russia pulling ahead in the Arctic

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks at a transportation conference in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. (Nov. 2011)

Michael Byers, Toronto Star, December 29, 2011

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA—“Canada has a good working relationship with Russia with respect to the Arctic. There is no likelihood of Arctic states going to war.”

The Russian foreign ministry’s representative in Siberia smiles as he quotes the Canadian Prime Minister, as reported in a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

Although Stephen Harper never expected that his conversation with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen would be made public, the analysis was entirely correct. Here in Novosibirsk (pop. 1.5 million), people are more interested in trade and investment opportunities than geopolitical conspiracies.

The dragon looks north

China grows hungry for Arctic resources and shipping routes as northern ice melts.

China has already invested $25bn to build an oil pipeline from Sibera [EPA] Michael Byers, AlJazeera.com, December 28, 2011

Vancouver, Canada - As the Arctic sea-ice melts, the Dragon looks to the north. China has a voracious appetite for oil, natural gas and minerals - of which the Arctic has plenty. The world's newest superpower is also the world's largest shipping nation, and well positioned to take advantage of shorter routes across an increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean.

There is no unclaimed land available in the Arctic, because Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States carved up the region centuries ago. But this fact doesn't discourage a resource-hungry China, which knows it can buy the access it needs.

Chinese state-owned companies have already invested tens of billions of dollars in Canada's northern tar sands. Three years ago, the Chinese government lent a Russian company $25bn so that it could build an oil pipeline from Siberia to China, which now carries 300,000 barrels per day. ...

For the full text, see: The dragon looks north 

Melting Arctic brings new opportunities

Changing conditions in the far north have sparked excitement and unfounded concerns over potential conflict.

Michael Byers, Al Jazeera.com , December 22, 2011

Vancouver, Canada - "For the first time in my life, I'm trying to find ice."

Alex MacIntyre was standing on the bridge of the Akademik Ioffe as the Russian-flagged ice-strengthened cruise ship traversed the Northwest Passage last summer. A Canadian ice-pilot with four decades of Arctic experience, MacIntyre remembers when the route was choked with sea-ice that was 10 to 15 metres thick.

Twenty-two ships sailed through the Northwest Passage in 2011. On the other side of the Arctic Ocean, 34 ships traversed Russia's Northern Sea Route.

The Arctic Ocean, which exists in a precarious balance between ice and water, is more susceptible to climate change than anywhere else on Earth. A so-called "feedback loop" exacerbates the situation: As climate change warms the air and melts the highly reflective ice from above, it exposes more dark ocean water which acts like a solar sponge, absorbing more energy from the sun and melting the remaining ice from below.

For the full text, see: Melting Arctic brings new opportunities

 

Russian maps suggest Soviet subs cruised Canadian Arctic

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press, December 6, 2011

The old Soviet Union may have been just as familiar with Canada’s Arctic waters as Canadians.

Sections of Cold-War-era nautical charts obtained by The Canadian Press suggest that Russian mariners have for decades possessed detailed and accurate knowledge of crucial internal waterways such as the Northwest Passage.

Those charts, which may offer the first documentary proof of the widely held belief that Soviet nuclear submarines routinely patrolled the Canadian Arctic during the Cold War, are still in use by Russian vessels. In some places, they are preferred to current Canadian charts.

"Should Canada focus on keeping the peace?: Yes"

Peacekeeping is not passé. We don't hear about it because it works

Michael Byers, Ottawa Citizen, 12 November 2011

"We need action not only to end the fighting but to make the peace ...."

Spoken by Lester B. Pearson in 1956, these words grace the side of the peacekeeping monument in Ottawa. They also provide an insight into the true nature of this difficult and often dangerous task.

Time to negotiate the Northwest Passage with the United States

Michael Byers, Policy Options, October 2011

It has always been difficult for Canada to discuss the Northwest Passage with the United States. A northern route to the Pacific Ocean was the holy grail for explorers from Cabot to Hudson and Franklin, whose discoveries helped define our nation. The Northwest Passage is also at the root of Canada’s most significant and enduring dispute with the United States. As such, it is a source of both pride and anxiety in our close but asymmetrical relationship. 

Nevertheless, we have managed to talk about the Northwest Passage when it has been necessary to do so ...

For the rest of the text, see: Time to Negotiate the Northwest Passage

The evil twin of the Keystone XL oil pipeline

Canada pushes for a second conduit through native lands and pristine waters

Map of the Northern Gateway pipeline  (Credit: northerngateway.ca)

Michael Byers, Salon.com , 15 October 2011

VANCOUVER, Canada – U.S. opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline should take take note: One of the greatest weaknesses of the proposed 1,980 mile-long pipeline from Canada’s tar sand fields to refineries in Texas actually lies in British Columbia on Canada’s west coast.

That’s where a second pipeline (“Northern Gateway”) could link the tar sands of central Canada to coastal British Columbia. The U.S. State Department has accepted assertions that the production of heavy oil will increase regardless of whether Keystone XL is built, because the Northern Gateway pipeline would bring oil for shipment to China. Denying permission for Keystone XL would not promote the U.S. national interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the State Department says, because China will use the energy anyway.

Why I'd Support Thomas Mulcair

The NDP deputy leader is a proven environmentalist, as was Jack Layton.

Climate change Leader? Mulcair is used to the heat on environment matters.

Michael Byers, TheTyee.ca , September 30, 2011

"For the first time in my life, I'm trying to find ice."

Alex McIntyre was standing on the bridge of the Akademik Ioffe as the Russian-flagged ice-strengthened cruise ship transited the Northwest Passage this summer. A Canadian ice-pilot with four decades of Arctic experience, McIntyre remembers when our route was choked with sea-ice that was 10 or 15 metres thick.

I was a guest lecturer on the ship and our futile search for ice has haunted me ever since. For the disappearing ice foretells a drastic change in the planet's climate system and with it the destruction of ecosystems and communities everywhere.

I was struck with a tidal wave of despair -- that only grew when, via satellite phone, I learned of Jack Layton's untimely death.

When trainers become targets

Afghan troops carry the body of a colleague who was killed during a gun battle with Taliban militants in Kabul on Sept. 14. Canadian military trainers were involved in the operation.

Michael Byers, Toronto Star, 29 September 2011

Canadian “trainers” were involved in a firefight in Afghanistan earlier this month, according to Brig.-Gen. Craig King. The battle occurred when insurgents attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing 16 people.

During the general’s testimony before a parliamentary committee last week, he also revealed that Canadian trainers are spread over a dozen locations in Kabul — a city that he described as an “extremely violent” environment.

It is hard to believe that just 10 months ago, then-Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was asking: “Can the Prime Minister guarantee that this (new engagement) is not going to involve combat, that it is going to be out of Kandahar and that the training will occur in safe conditions in Kabul?”

“The answer is yes to all those questions,” Stephen Harper replied. “As the minister of national defence, the minister of foreign affairs and others have said, we are looking at a noncombat mission that will occur. It will be a training mission that will occur in classrooms, behind the wire, in bases.”

Peaceful competition on Arctic ice

Michael Byers, Toronto Star, 24 August 2011

AMUNDSEN GULF, N.W.T.—Two powerful icebreakers — one Canadian, the other American — have just met up in the Beaufort Sea, setting up the latest play in a circumpolar hockey game.

Together, the CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent and USCGC Healy will map the Alpha Ridge, a 2,000 kilometre-long range of underwater mountains running from the northwest flank of Canada’s Ellesmere Island toward Russia’s Wrangle Island.

Asian juggernaut eyes our ‘golden’ waterways

Michael Byers, Globe and Mail, 29 August 2011

“We are men of action. We get things done.” With those words, Ahmed Ali Al-Subaey, the Saudi-born CEO of South Korea’s largest oil company, set the tone for a conference on Arctic shipping held, significantly, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the world’s cargo ships traverse the Pacific as they service the economic powerhouses of Asia. Fully 77 per cent of China’s oil imports pass through the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia. In Beijing, this strategic weakness is referred to as the “Malacca dilemma.”

Some of the larger vessels can’t fit into the Panama Canal and must loop around the bottom of South America. Still more loop around Africa to avoid the pirate-infested approaches to the Suez Canal. The added distances impose unwelcome costs – in fuel, salaries and foregone business.

Now, all eyes are turning toward another entrance to the Pacific: the relatively deep, wide, pirate-free Bering Strait. To the east, the Northwest Passage offers a 7,000-kilometre shortcut between Northeast Asia and the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. To the west, the Northern Sea Route offers a 10,000-kilometre shortcut to Europe.

Rules for the North Pole

Michael Byers, International Herald Tribune, 18 August 2011

No country will ever “own” the North Pole, which is located roughly 400 miles to the north of any land. The central Arctic Ocean belongs to humanity; its challenges are the responsibility of all nations. Those challenges — of life-threatening accidents, oil spills and over-fishing — are increasing as the sea-ice melts and ships of all kinds gain access.

Overheard: Asia's View of Alberta, Tar Sands and Pipelines

If this insider is right, Gateway is purely a ploy and Canadians are rubes.

Michael Byers, TheTyee.ca, 16 August 2011

"The small Canadian oil companies have been windfalls for us. They won't work with the majors. They don't trust them. And they don't know anything -- they want to export bitumen to Asia!"

The East-West Center is a U.S. government-funded think tank that has been promoting cooperation with Asia for half-a-century. I'm the only Canadian at a Honolulu workshop about future prospects for Asian shipping and energy companies. We're in a coffee break, and dozens of Korean, Chinese and Japanese executives and academics are diligently exchanging business cards.

The voice that attracts my attention belongs to the chairman of a Singapore-based consulting firm that operates at the highest levels of the global oil and gas industry. He's talking about Alberta's tar-like crude oil, so incredibly thick that it has to be mixed with natural gas condensate before it will flow through pipelines.

As I listen in, I hear from the consultant a startling analysis of what Asia really thinks about Alberta tar sands exports, and why the much contested Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta through to British Columbia's northern coast is being pushed so hard even though Asia doesn't need it.

Time, Canada, to negotiate the Northwest Passage

Michael Byers, CBC.ca , 5 July 2011

With Arctic sea ice melting, at up to three times faster than scientists were predicting, the international battle over the polar region and the Northwest Passage, in particular, is also heating up. This week Moscow sent a nuclear-powered icebreaker to explore the extent of its northern continental shelf while Canada announced that this summer's annual military exercise in the Arctic will be the largest in recent history.

UBC's Michael Byers, the author of Who Owns the Arctic? Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North, says it is time for the federal government to start formally negotiating the rules around the Northwest Passage with the international community, the Americans especially.

It's never been easy for Canada to talk about the Northwest Passage with the U.S. The passage was the holy grail for explorers from Cabot to Hudson and Franklin, whose discoveries helped define our northern nation.

The Northwest Passage also constitutes Canada's most significant long-standing dispute with the U.S. It's a source of both pride and anxiety in our close but asymmetrical relationship.

Koreans Eye Mackenzie Valley Gas

Short on fuels, their LNG tankers are ready to fetch BC gas. Will they spark a latent NWT gas boom, too?

Liquified natural gas carrier: Korea planning icebreaking tankers.

Michael Byers, The Tyee, June 27, 2011

Among the denim-clad crowd at the Inuvik Petroleum Show, two well-dressed Koreans stand out like sore thumbs. Curious, I sit down with them at lunch.

"We're from Kogas," they say. "The Korea Gas Corporation." Why have they come here, to the Northwest Territories?

Exporting bitumen to China would be environmentally and fiscally detrimental

Michael Byers, Globe and Mail, June 14, 2011

[This is the con argument in the first of two mini-debates The Globe is hosting in advance of Friday’s Munk Debates on China’s role in the 21st century. The topic: Should Canada’s oil sands fuel China? Click here for the pro argument.]

THE POSSIBILITY of exporting bitumen from Alberta to China is invoked to put pressure on the United States, which recently postponed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico and is moving, slowly but inexorably, toward an import ban on carbon-intensive oil.

A year ago this month, 50 members of Congress wrote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warning that “building this pipeline has the potential to undermine America’s clean energy future and international leadership on climate change.”

Canada boosts claim to Northwest Passage

Bernard Simon, Financial Times, May 11, 2011

A plan to open up northern Quebec to resource development will help bolster Canada’s disputed claims to the Northwest Passage, according to Jean Charest, premier of the French-speaking province.

“With global warming, a northern route is going to open up just on the tip of northern Quebec by 2030 or 2040,” Mr Charest told the Financial Times.

Why Stephen Harper should fly to Greenland

Michael Byers, Globe and Mail, May 9, 2011

Stephen Harper is facing the first diplomatic dilemma of his new majority government.

On Thursday, foreign ministers from seven other polar countries will meet in Nuuk, Greenland, for an Arctic Council summit. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be there. So, too, will Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

But Mr. Harper doesn’t have a foreign minister to send. Lawrence Cannon was defeated in last week’s federal election, and a new cabinet won’t be sworn in for at least another week.