Canada's Leader to Assert Arctic ClaimBy ROB GILLIES
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 19, 2007; 12:10 PM
MONTEBELLO, Quebec -- Canada's prime minister is
expected to assert his nation's claim to the fabled
Northwest Passage through the warming, resource-rich
Arctic at talks with President Bush that start Monday.
Canada claimed the passage in 1973 but competition to
control the Arctic has intensified with global warming.
Shrinking polar ice has raised the possibility of new
shipping lanes and development of what one U.S. study
suggested could be as much as 25 percent of the world's
undiscovered oil and gas.
Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national
flag under the North Pole this month. Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper went to the Arctic earlier this
month and announced Canada will build a new army
training center and a deep-water port in the Northwest
passage.
The summit involving Bush, Harper and Mexican President
Felipe Calderon is largely about expanding economic
cooperation among the three nations, but Harper will
assert Canada's claim during a private meeting with Bush,
Canadian officials said at a press briefing on the summit.
The United States and Norway also have claims in the
Arctic, and the U.S. says the passage isn't Canadian.
-snip- Cellucci: Time to admit Arctic part of CanadaCanadian Press
August 19, 2007 at 1:14 PM EDT
OTTAWA — A former U.S. ambassador to Ottawa says it's
time for his country to reconsider its traditional position
on Arctic sovereignty and admit that the Northwest
Passage is part of Canada.
Paul Cellucci told CTV's Question Period he recommended
such a course to the U.S. State Department before he
ended his term as ambassador.
The Americans have long contended that the Northwest
Passage is part of international waters. But Mr. Cellucci
says that should change in the age of global terrorism.
-snip- 
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