Jets and satellites rule agenda as Harper visits Resolute Bay

Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks to a large Inuksuk on the shores of Hudson Bay in Churchill, Man. Aug. 24. Harper arrived in Resolute Bay Aug. 25, where he was to observe military exercises as part of Operation Nanook. (PHOTO BY JASON RANSOM/PMO)

MARK KENNEDY
Postmedia News

RESOLUTE BAY — Prime Minister Stephen Harper continued his Arctic journey on Wednesday with plans to emphasize Canada’s military capabilities and satellite technology.

After being grounded by a storm for a day in Churchill, Man., Harper flew to Resolute Bay Aug. 25, where members of the Canadian Forces are gathered for the annual training exercise, known as Operation Nanook.

The prime minister was expected to deliver a speech to the troops, watch navy divers in action, and witness an emergency response exercise in which a simulated leak of an oil tanker is contained.

In a continuation of the patriotic theme that has underscored his trip North, Harper planned to put Canadian sovereignty front and centre.

“Our government is committed to protecting and asserting Canada’s presence throughout our Arctic,” Harper said in a statement released by his office.

“As the strategic importance of Canada’s Arctic grows, the work undertaken by Operation Nanook is more valuable now than ever before. With other countries becoming more interested in the Arctic and its rich resource potential, and with new trade routes opening up, we must continue to exercise our sovereignty while strengthening the safety and security of Canadians living in our high Arctic.”

Operation Nanook is being carried out in the eastern and high Arctic from Aug. 6 to Aug. 26. This year, the Canadian Forces have been joined by ships from the Danish and American navies for the training exercise.

Harper’s visit to the North comes as government officials announced that two Canadian CF-18s from the military base at Cold Lake, Alta., intercepted two Russian bombers making what has become a regular incursion over the Arctic.

The Canadian fighter jets returned to base after the Russian aircraft, which never entered Canadian airspace, turned back.

Harper says his government has put the country on a stronger path with plans for an icebreaker, a deep-sea naval port, and a high Arctic military training facility.

Opposition critics were quick to suggest the Conservative plans are little more than unkept promises.

“Every summer, in an annual display of all talk and little action, Stephen Harper goes up North, does a lot of photo ops, and then it’s all forgotten about until a year later when he does the trip again, and we see little or no progress has been made,” Yukon’s Liberal MP Larry Bagnell said.

“There’s nothing in this week’s announcements that focused on Canada’s greatest claim to Arctic sovereignty: our northern people,” said Bagnell.

Harper also announced Aug. 25 how the federal government is pumping additional funding into the next generation of Radarsat satellites – known as the Radarsat Constellation mission.

In the March 2010 budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty provided the Canadian Space Agency with $397 million over five years to work with the private sector to develop the Constellation mission. The space agency will contribute another $100 million from existing funds and the satellites are expected to be launched in 2014 and 2015.

The Radarsat Constellation project is designed to replace single satellites with three satellites that would provide better geographical coverage.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that images from the satellites will provide critical information about “environmental changes and human habitation.”

The satellites will be used for marine surveillance, disaster management and environmental monitoring.