<story><title>The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone</title><url>http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21721379-current-trends-arctic-will-be-ice-free-summer-2040-arctic-it-known-today</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chollida1</author><text>Global warming aside, as a Canadian, I&amp;#x27;m disappointing in what our government has down to protect our sovereignty in the Canadian northern archipelago.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Canadian_Arctic_Archipelago&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Canadian_Arctic_Archipelago&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had we invested in a navy base in the north, and a few ice breakers, then we could have been the owner of the &amp;quot;panama canal of the arctic&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;We would have a monopoly on what traffic goes through the Canadian archipelago which would help offset the cost of policing the north.&lt;p&gt;We would be able to do things like prohibit oil tankers and other hazardous materials if we wanted.&lt;p&gt;At this point I think we&amp;#x27;ve all but given away any claim to being able to dictate who travels through our northern islands.  The arctic will be policed by the American&amp;#x27;s and Russians, and used heavily by ships travelling to the east coast of the US and Europe from China.&lt;p&gt;Hopefully at the least, we&amp;#x27;ll be able to push for things to protect the arctic waters like no resource mining, think offshore oil rigs, and no oil tankers travelling through those waters.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>niftich</author><text>Harper&amp;#x27;s administration, though losing focus on the issue by the end, was keen on enforcing the Canadian Internal Waters claim [1][2]. Trudeau, not at all [3].&lt;p&gt;To the detriment of Canadians, major players around the rest of the world consider these waters international waters, and on the international level, might (or the lack of response thereof) leads to facts-on-the-ground, as we&amp;#x27;ve seen time and time again.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theglobeandmail.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;national&amp;#x2F;the-north&amp;#x2F;myth-versus-reality-in-stephen-harpers-northern-strategy&amp;#x2F;article16397458&amp;#x2F;?page=all&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theglobeandmail.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;national&amp;#x2F;the-north&amp;#x2F;myth-...&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cbc.ca&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;north&amp;#x2F;franklin-find-as-much-about-sovereignty-as-solving-a-mystery-1.2763117&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cbc.ca&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;north&amp;#x2F;franklin-find-as-much-ab...&lt;/a&gt;
[3] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cbc.ca&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;trudeau-obama-arctic-1.3905933&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cbc.ca&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;trudeau-obama-arctic-1.39059...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone</title><url>http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21721379-current-trends-arctic-will-be-ice-free-summer-2040-arctic-it-known-today</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chollida1</author><text>Global warming aside, as a Canadian, I&amp;#x27;m disappointing in what our government has down to protect our sovereignty in the Canadian northern archipelago.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Canadian_Arctic_Archipelago&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Canadian_Arctic_Archipelago&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had we invested in a navy base in the north, and a few ice breakers, then we could have been the owner of the &amp;quot;panama canal of the arctic&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;We would have a monopoly on what traffic goes through the Canadian archipelago which would help offset the cost of policing the north.&lt;p&gt;We would be able to do things like prohibit oil tankers and other hazardous materials if we wanted.&lt;p&gt;At this point I think we&amp;#x27;ve all but given away any claim to being able to dictate who travels through our northern islands.  The arctic will be policed by the American&amp;#x27;s and Russians, and used heavily by ships travelling to the east coast of the US and Europe from China.&lt;p&gt;Hopefully at the least, we&amp;#x27;ll be able to push for things to protect the arctic waters like no resource mining, think offshore oil rigs, and no oil tankers travelling through those waters.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>desdiv</author><text>As long as the US thinks the northwest passage is an international passage then no amount of bases or ships would matter. Canada simply can&amp;#x27;t win that fight.&lt;p&gt;There are just too many ways for US to exert soft pressure on Canada: softwood lumber, NAFTA repeal, extra tariff and transit charges for oil sand output. (admittedly that last one might be a good thing for Earth)</text></comment>