Tories plan to bolster Arctic defence
Last Updated: Thursday, December 22, 2005 | 11:11 AM ET
CBC News
Speaking in Winnipeg, Harper said protecting and defending national sovereignty is Ottawa's most important duty, and his government would invest in the military to ensure that would happen.
Among those investments would be a "new Arctic national sensor system" to listen for submarines in Canadian waters.
Stephen Harper, Thursday.
"Under a Conservative government, Canada will know when foreign ships, whether they be Russian, British, Danish, American or anyone else, are in our waters," he said, adding those governments would need to ask permission before sending their boats.
There are recent reports of a U.S. submarine patrolling near the North Pole, and it's likely travelling through Canadian waters. Harper said he has heard anecdotal evidence about subs from other countries doing the same.
"Paul Martin talks eloquently about defending national sovereignty, but the reality hasn't matched the rhetoric," Harper said about the Liberal leader. "When it comes to the United States, Mr. Martin says he calls them as he sees them, but when it comes to American passage through Canada, he doesn't actually see anything."
Martin has said he would do whatever is necessary to keep foreign submarines out of Canada.
"You don't defend national sovereignty with flags, cheap election rhetoric and advertising campaigns," Harper said. "You need forces on the ground, ships in the sea and proper surveillance."
Harper said the Conservatives will build three heavy-duty, armed icebreakers as well as a new port for them near Iqaluit.
He said if he's elected in the Jan. 23 election, his government would set up a network of underwater sensors to listen for foreign vessels and put planes and unmanned drones in the skies over the North.
The plan also calls for expanding the Canadian Rangers, who patrol remote areas of the Arctic, and bolstering search and rescue capabilities.
The total cost of the Conservatives' Arctic commitments is about $3.5 billion.
- FROM DEC. 13, 2005: Tories would bring back airborne regiment
Martin dismissed Harper's platform, saying it has been government policy for a long time.
For example, Martin said stopping foreign submarines' entry into Canadian waters without Ottawa's go-ahead is already the status quo.
"So fundamentally what Mr. Harper has done today is what he has done countless times before: hasn't done his costing, probably thought the policy up yesterday, did not check to find out what, in fact, is the status quo, what is government policy. "And I got to say welcome to the real world," Martin added. "I'm delighted that he has finally understood what we have been saying for quite some time."
Thursday's announcement was the second defence-related platform of Harper's campaign. He said earlier this month that his party would spend $5 billion more than the Liberal government.
By 2010, he said, a Conservative government would be spending $1.8 billion more per year than the Liberals.
He also announced he would reconstitute the airborne regiment, which was disbanded in disgrace in 1995.
