OTTAWA - Canada needs more than ice-capable corvettes and political speeches if it wants to guarantee access to Arctic oil and gas wealth, says a northern expert.
Professor Michael Byers of the University of British Columbia says the neither the Conservative government nor its Liberal predecessor have put enough time or money into defending the country's economic zone near the North Pole.
Little has been accomplished since Canada signed an international treaty in 2003 that set the clock running for countries to stake out their territory in the polar sea, he said.
Countries bordering the Arctic have 10 years to map and file their claims for international consideration, said Byers.
The time since 2003 should have been spent investing in the technology and ships that would have allowed Canada to explore the inhospitable region, he said.
"I've compared this to Canada's moon mission," said Byers, referring U.S. race to beat the Russians to the moon in the 1960s.
"At a technical and a capability level, this is as complicated and daunting as that. To do this properly you need to not only map the area, but you need to do the seismic work."
Byers said such an expedition would require one or two heavy icebreakers, which Canada does not have.
The Conservative government recently announced it will build between six and eight armed, medium icebreakers for the navy to enforce Canada's sovereignty in the North, but those vessels won't hit the water until 2012 at the earliest.
A Russian expedition got underway Wednesday with much fanfare to explore the Arctic Ocean and map where potential hydrocarbons might be, though a ship breakdown has meant a delay.
Under international law, five Arctic countries, including Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark (through Greenland) control an economic zone within 320 kilometres of their continental shelf. But the definition of the limits of that shelf are in dispute.
Russia first laid claim to wide swathes of undersea Arctic territory in the United Nations in 2001. But the four other polar countries have objected to this bid. Danish scientists maintain the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of Greenland, making Denmark another claimant to the North Pole and its environs.
Canada's foreign affairs minister, Peter MacKay, was not available for comment Wednesday.
But his spokesman Dan Dugas said that "Canada's sovereignty over the lands and waters of the Canadian Arctic is long standing, well-established and based on historic title."
