YELLOWKNIFE - Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to take more steps to deal with economic, social and environmental concerns in Canada's north, says NDP Leader Jack Layton.
Wrapping up a tour that included stops in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung and Cambridge Bay, Layton said Friday the Harper government is taking the wrong approach to Arctic sovereignty.
"Let's not put so much emphasis on the military approach to sovereignty in the North, let's put emphasis on the people of the North," Layton said in a telephone interview from Yellowknife.
Layton said Canada's best claim to sovereignty is the fact that Inuit communities have been established across the North for thousands of years.
During his tour, Layton met with Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, as well as community leaders and social agencies in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. He said he is supporting a vision created by the three northern premiers in May to tackle climate change and deal with the social ills of the North.
Layton said he will also be pushing for a resource-revenue sharing agreement with the territories once Parliament reconvenes in September.
"There's vast dollars flowing into the coffers in Ottawa, and yet the people of the North are living with living costs and circumstances that really require some of that revenue to be diverted back."
He said more scientific studies of the Arctic are needed so that Canada will meet a 2013 deadline to make submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which could allow the country to extend its economic claims farther than 320 kilometres from its shore.
Layton added that the government needs to make living in the North more affordable by increasing the northern tax credit, and to consult with communities on new military and commercial developments.
