Ottawa holds back on port

Stephen Harper, the prime minister, announced July 9 that Ottawa will build eight special patrol ships for use in the Arctic, at a cost of $3.1 billion.

But Harper did not announce the location of the deep water port that these ships will use to refuel and take on supplies.

It appears as if the defence department is still studying a range of choices for the Arctic refueling station. The Globe and Mail reported this week that Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Resolute Bay and Cambridge Bay are still being considered as possible port locations, which means Iqaluit's well-known bid for some type of deep water port is still alive.

In 2005, long before the last federal election, the City of Iqaluit prepared a proposal to build a small one-berth port at Innuit Head by Iqaluit's causeway, across from the built-up section of town.

When Stephen Harper, then the opposition leader, promised during the 2006 federal election campaign tht a Tory government would build a deep water port in the Arctic, Iqaluit officials saw an opportunity to make the idea a federal government priority, especially after Harper won the election.

But the federal government has yet to announce a location for an Arctic sea port. In the summer of 2006, Gordon O'Connor, the defence minister, said his department was studying a range of choices provided by the Government of Nunavut.

Also in 2006, O'Connor backed away from another Tory election promise: to build three armed icebreakers for use in the Arctic. So Harper's announcement this week of eight patrol ships comes as no surprise.

The federal government said each ship will be equipped with a helicopter landing pad and designed with steel-reinforced hulls to allow operation in ice up to one metre thick.

Harper said their operation and maintenance cost is estimated at $4.3 billion over 25 years.

The ships will be built in Canada and when necessary, repaired and refitted in Canada. They would likely be based in Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C.