XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   On 18/01/2014 5:43 PM, ConɀƦConɀ wrote:   
   > What a joke this man is.  He actually thinks that WHAT he thinks should   
   > prevail. Someone clue him in: the country or state with the biggest guns   
   > wins.   
   > And CHINA is going for a stake in the Arctic - because it smells oil there.   
   >   
   > ________________________________________________   
   > January 17, 2014 - Globe and Mail   
   >   
   > Only Arctic nations should shape the North, Harper tells The Globe   
   >   
   > In interview, Stephen Harper insists that decisions be made by countries   
   > with a direct land claim to the region   
   >   
   >   
   > [This is part of The North1, a Globe investigation into the   
   > unprecedented change to the climate, culture and politics of Canada's   
   > last frontier. Join the conversation with #GlobeNorth2.]   
   >   
   >   
   > Stephen Harper says the Arctic should be the domain of countries with   
   > territory there and he would oppose efforts to grant influence to   
   > outsiders in a region attracting growing global attention amid climate   
   > change and the hunt for resource riches.   
   >   
   > Canada is the current chair of the Arctic Council, an international   
   > forum for co-operation in the region that has taken on a fresh   
   > importance as countries jockey for position and economic opportunities   
   > in the North on everything from offshore petroleum deposits to faster   
   > shipping routes.   
   >   
   > Mr. Harper said he has had misgivings about the rush of countries and   
   > other players to join the club as observers.   
   >   
   > "It was just becoming literally everybody in the world wanted to be in   
   > the Arctic Council," the Prime Minister said in an interview in his   
   > Langevin Block office in Ottawa.   
   >   
   > Mr. Harper, who has made Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic a central   
   > feature of his eight-year tenure, sat down to talk to The Globe and Mail   
   > about the issue. A transcript of the conversation will be published on   
   > Saturday.   
   >   
   > Full membership, including voting rights, in the Arctic Council is   
   > restricted to eight countries with territory in the region, but this   
   > group is now outnumbered by 12 other states that have won observer   
   > status and can attend meetings. Just last year, China, an ascendant   
   > global power, was among those granted observer status – as were India,   
   > Japan, South Korea, Italy and Singapore.   
   >   
   > Mr. Harper said he was not comfortable with the expansion of the council   
   > to include observers, which began before he took power in 2006.   
   >   
   > "To be blunt about it, I think, frankly, this had already gone too far   
   > before we became government, but given that's the precedent that's been   
   > established, you know, we're prepared to have a significant number of   
   > observers as long as their presence doesn't override or impede upon the   
   > deliberations of the permanent members," he said.   
   >   
   > He is adamant the council cannot affect Canada's autonomy in the Arctic.   
   > "Let me be absolutely clear on this: Canada's participation in the   
   > Arctic Council is predicated on the notion that this is an association   
   > of sovereign states ... that in no way, impinges upon our sovereignty,   
   > over our own territory."   
   >   
   > Mr. Harper has styled himself a hawk on Canadian sovereignty in the   
   > North and has made it clear he feels this country's birthright goes   
   > beyond its land mass and right up to the geographic North Pole. In   
   > December, his government served notice it would claim the North Pole as   
   > part of an international bid for seabed riches in the Arctic. The Globe   
   > and Mail reported4 that this came after a proposed submission to the   
   > United Nations presented to the government by Canadian bureaucrats   
   > failed to include the Pole.   
   >   
   > Asked whether he agrees with arguments that the Arctic should be managed   
   > by all countries, as Antarctica is, Mr. Harper dismissed the idea.   
   >   
   > "The Antarctic model is absolutely and completely unacceptable to the   
   > government of Canada and to the people of Canada," he said. "We want to   
   > make sure that [this] kind of thinking is not part of any ... department   
   > of the government of Canada."   
   >   
   > The Arctic Ocean, to the extent it is international waters, will require   
   > a degree of co-operation between neighbours, the Prime Minister said.   
   >   
   > He is dead set against the idea "the Arctic should be internationalized"   
   > – an opinion he said has taken root in "some academic and bureaucratic   
   > circles."   
   >   
   > Mr. Harper added he believes critics of his sovereignty agenda are   
   > sometimes at odds with him because they "actually don't support the   
   > notion of sovereignty in this part of this world."   
   Harper is right about Cdn sovereignty over vast stretches of the Arctic   
   and the NDP/Liberals and Greens should support him on this.   
      
   --   
   *Read and obey the Bible*   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)