The issue of Arctic sovereignty is “heating up” as global warming allows for more access to the North.
In Harper’s 2006 campaign, he promised “three heavy troop-carrying icebreakers, remote sensing to locate foreign vessels, an army training centre up north, a deepwater port at Iqaluit, more air patrols plus unmanned drone aircraft, and expansion of the aboriginal militia known as the Arctic Rangers.” However, his government has now backed away from this earlier plan, and some would like an explanation.