Michael
Byers, Globe and Mail, November 26, 2007
Stephen Harper has committed $1 billion to
the Pacific Gateway Initiative, a series of infrastructure investments stretching
across the four western provinces. Seizing on Canada’s geographic location, the
plan aims to develop the most efficient and secure transportation corridors between
North America and Asia. Now, it is time for the next step. It is time for an
Arctic Gateway Initiative.
Canada has the longest coastline of any
country, most of it in the Arctic. For centuries, that coastline was rendered inaccessible
by thick, hard “multi-year” sea-ice. But climate change is suddenly causing the
sea-ice to disappear. More than 1.2 million square kilometres were lost between
September 2006 and September 2007, leaving the Northwest Passage temporarily
ice-free.
Soon, all of the Arctic’s sea-ice will melt
away during the summer months. Ice will still form during the winter, but it
will be relatively thin, soft “single year” ice. And this will make ice-breaker
assisted, year-round shipping commercially feasible.
Since the Earth is a sphere, Canada’s northern
coastline is relatively close to both Asia and Europe. The Northwest Passage
offers a 7000 kilometre shortcut from New Jersey to Shanghai.
Churchill, Manitoba is currently the only
commercial deepwater port in northern Canada. Climate change has already extended
the shipping season there, from July to November. Long used for shipping grain
to foreign markets, Churchill is beginning to see two-way trade. Last month, a
Russian vessel arrived with fertilizer from Estonia, and left with wheat for
Italy.
OmniTRAX, the company that owns the port and
rail-line south, is pushing the concept of an “Arctic Bridge” from the Russian port
of Murmansk, through Churchill and on into the United States. Mr. Harper came
on board last month, contributing $24 million to upgrades for the port and
railway.
But $24 million is chump change compared to
the $1 billion for the Pacific Gateway Initiative. New highways, bridges and
railway overpasses are being built across the Lower Mainland of BC. A new
container terminal is under construction at Prince Rupert, the Trans-Canada
highway through Banff National Park is being fully twinned, and new road interchanges
are being built in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.
Why isn’t the North part of this ambitious
plan?
It is not as if Mr. Harper has been
ignoring the Arctic. He has moved to strengthen Canada’s military presence, announcing
ice-strengthened patrol vessels for the Navy and a refurbished refuelling
facility at Nanisivik. But while such steps will facilitate the application of Canadian
laws to foreign ships, they do little to promote trade and economic development.
An Arctic Gateway Initiative would embrace the
North as a transportation opportunity. All-season roads would be pushed through
to Tuktoyaktuk, Bathurst Inlet and Baker Lake. Deep water ports would be built near
the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and at Bathurst Inlet and Iqaluit.
The Canadian Coast Guard would be charged
with developing safe, commercially-attractive, all-season shipping routes
through the Canadian Arctic. This work would involve maintaining
navigation devices and producing detailed charts. It would also, critically, involve
breaking ice for commercial vessels—including foreign ones.
The Coast Guard already breaks ice for cargo
ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Saguenay River during the winter months.
A new icebreaker in Hudson Bay could add several
months to the shipping season at Churchill. Additional icebreakers could ensure
safe transits for commercial vessels through the Northwest Passage, initially
for three or four months, and before long throughout the year.
Arctic hubs for the transportation of goods
to and from North America would relieve pressure on Vancouver, Prince Rupert,
Halifax and Montreal. They would create jobs and spur economic development, not
just locally but across the country too.
Most significantly, providing icebreaking for
foreign vessels in the Northwest Passage would cement Canada’s claim to
sovereignty there. For what cargo ship is going to refuse the offer of a safe,
cost-effective transit on the basis that it does not want to ask Canada’s
permission to sail through?
Arctic sovereignty is only partly about using it
or losing it. It is also about ensuring that when foreign ships enter Canada’s Arctic,
they do so on our terms. Let’s give them an incentive to work with us. Let’s
build an Arctic Gateway for the world.
Michael Byers is the author of Intent for
a Nation: What is Canada For?
"If you build it they will come." I fully agree with this article, but I have a few questions. One is how much will it cost, and what would be the timeline on construction? Now there is no doubt in my mind that the costs of building this gateway will pay for themselves a hundred times over, but with the current ideology of austerity and balanced budgets in the federal government would the conservative government be willing to spend the money for this to be built. Another question is how would the roads, railways and other pieces of infrastructure stay in place, due to the of the melting of the perma-frost every summer turning the ground to mud, which isn't the best place to build a road, would they have to drive piles until they reached pertinent frozen ground or bed rock, or perhaps a floating road? What is Russia doing with its arctic infrastructure?
Posted by: Alex Northey | 12/03/2012 at 12:19 PM