CASR

Canadian
American
Strategic
Review

Defence Policy  –  Conservative Party  –  December 2005 Stephen Harper announces the new defence policy put forward by the Conservative Party of Canada – Pt 5 Dianne DeMille & Stephen Priestley  –  this article has been expanded from 'briefing  notes'  prepared  by  CASR  for  the  CBC  on  22  December  2005 Keeping a Grip or “To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea” The Conservative Party plan includes an Arctic training centre at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut “on the Northwest Passage”. Instructional staff would be made up of 100 Regular Force personnel. Arctic-specific training is a good idea and any number of CF “boots on the ground” in the Arctic is an assertion of Canadian sovereignty. Say Northwest Passage and most Canadians will think of Viscount Melville Sound leading westward into the Beaufort Sea.  Alas,  Cambridge Bay is on the ‘wrong’ side of  Victoria Island ,  facing south to Queen Maud Gulf. So why this location? Until 1989, Cambridge Bay was the site of a DEW Line radar station. [6]  Not only does DND own land in the area (658 hectares), there is also a military-built airstrip  (its runway is 1524m x 46m gravel with a terminal and hangar). In other words, the infrastructure is in place.[7] Not made clear is whether Mr. Harper is talking about instructors training Regular Forces in Arctic warfare skills or increasing the level of Ranger training – or both. If the latter, it would be better to disperse “centres” to reduce travelling times.  If the former, we must also question the choice of scarce Regular Force instructors. If past Arctic exercises demonstrated anything, it’s that Rangers have a lot to teach about their region and its conditions (Regular Force troops involved in  EX Narwhal  would be among the first to agree).  Since many courses in the south are delayed due to a shortage of  instructors, why not make full use of the skill of  the more experienced Rangers, and  have them instruct the courses? The operation of new kit can be taught ‘long distance’ or the instructors flown in. Training the CF for Arctic warfare makes good sense and helps to assert Canadian sovereignty  (especially if training activities were spread  throughout  the region ). So, land-ownership issues aside, why concentrate your efforts in Cambridge Bay? The answer is political. Interests in the hamlet proposed that a deep-water port be built near Cambridge Bay. The Conservatives chose instead to back a rival bid by the city of Iqaluit economic development office for a deep-water port of their own. Cambridge Bay’s bid has been in the works for some time. Iqaluit only pitched their concept for a $49M port in October of 2005 but this location has strategic advantages. So, in effect, the Cam- bridge Bay training centre is a consolation prize. Nice gesture – but  it raises credibility problems. Mr. Harper announced the deep-water port with the usual electioneering flourish. But Mr. Harper did not credit a source for his port proposal. This concept did not originate with the Conservative Party, it was Iqaluit economic development officer Kim Rizzi who brought the plan to Ottawa’s attention. She probably could not care less about credit  – so long as the port gets built.  But, assigning priority is part of academic protocol and University of Calgary graduate Stephen Harper knows that. [Also see CASR  In Detail  Breaking the Ice: Planning an Iqaluit Deep Water Port for Existing Plans for an Iqaluit Deep Water Port and Costing the Tory DWP Plan] [6] That former DEW Line base,  CAM-M,  gained unwelcome media attention due to PCBs and heavy metal pollutants (and apparent DND footdragging on cleaning up the landfill site did’t aid appearances). Still, interest by the hamlet of Cambridge Bay in buidling a civil/military deep-water port shows that DND is not unwelcome. [7] The Nunavut government committed $18M to pave the YCB runway “which is scarred with ruts...caused by soft soil giving way beneath the pressure of landing aircraft” according to the Nunatsiaq News.  YCB is 960km by air from Yellowknife. Dianne  DeMille  is  the  editor  of  the  Canadian  American  Strategic  Review. Stephen Priestley is the creator of  DND 101 - A Visual Guide to CF Equipment .