Harper, you cheap bastard
It appears that instead of building a new port for the north in a location that may actually have some economic benefits, the Conservative government is going to claim and refurbish the Nanisivik mine’s facilities. Now, I can’t argue that this isn’t a really cheap way to provide a port facility for the Canadian military and Coast Guard. All the real work has already been done.
For those lacking the background, Nanisivik was a mining company town, emphasis on the was; nobody lives there anymore. For the last several years, they’ve been tearing down the buildings and cleaning up, but the site still boasts a dock and an airstrip, which is being used by the community of Arctic Bay, a little over ten miles away with a population of roughly 400 people. For them at least, this is good news, as the expense of keeping the road connecting the two communities in good repair is beyond the resources available to them.
If the planned refurbishment of the mine goes ahead, it would deviate slightly from the Conservatives' promise during the last election campaign to build a new military deepwater port in Iqaluit.
Slight for those who are ignorant of the situation, which unfortunately describes most people who don't live here, but I have to go to the CNN story on this to get the reason why its such a disappointment.
"Our government has an aggressive Arctic agenda," said Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's spokesman.
"Economic development -- unleashing the resource-based potential of the North, environmental protection -- protecting the unique Northern environment, national sovereignty -- protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters."
Now, if anyone can explain how refurbishing an abandoned mine’s docking facility will help “unleash the resource-based potential of the North”, I’d love to hear it. One of my points in my last post about Arctic sovereignty was that the lack of infrastructure kept many potential mine sites from being developed.
Now if Harper had announced he was building a docking facility at Nanisivik 30 years ago before the mine was there, and it allowed the mine’s development, we could talk about him unleashing the resource potential. A port in Iqaluit would save millions every year in off loading supplies during the summer sealift and we could talk about the economic benefit. Nanisivik now offers no new resource development and little in the way of savings even for the nearby community of Arctic Bay.
Also, the docking facilities at Nanisivik are already being used by the Coast Guard. I’m all for maintaining the site, or even expanding it, but just as building the patrol boats are only an enhancement to our Arctic presence if they are in addition to recapitalizing the icebreaker fleet, (Note how Denmark is sending an expedition to the North Pole. I wonder why we aren't doing that. Oh yeah, we don't have an icebreaker capable of getting there. Boy, we're sure showing them!) Nanisivik as a deepwater port only enhances our presence if it is in addition to another facility. Using it alone only maintains the status quo.
Basically, if Harper was actually building a port somewhere, I could give him some props. Instead, he’s going to take over a docking facility somebody else built and take credit for how “building” it enhances Canada’s presence.
The first makes him cheap, the second, a bastard.
Cross-posted to BlogsCanada: E-Group
