As Canada diverges from the US position on climate change presenting a national security issue - PM Harper seems to serve specific energy interests and demonize a small number of eco-activitists rather than accept some obvious climate change issues. One such issue is the shrinking arctic sea ice in the Northwest passage that threaten Canadian sovereignty as Canada claims it as internal waterways, although many countries "maintain they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage." That there has not been an immediate boom in the access of the two arctic sea routes is no proof that climate change is not continuing to make the route more feasible for commercial passage or development.
Canadian mounties' secret memo casts doubt on climate change threat
Intelligence report identifies anti-petroleum movement as a threat to Canadian security and suggests those concerned with climate consequences occupy (the) political fringe
The Globe and Mail, which was the first to report on the memo, said the tone of the RCMP memo reflects the hostility of the Harper government towards environmental activists.
The memo warns: “Violent anti-petroleum extremists will continue to engage in criminal activity to promote their anti-petroleum ideology”.
The memo also echoes the accusations of former Harper officials of foreign funding of environmental protesters.
“There is a growing, highly organized and well-financed anti-Canada petroleum movement that consists of peaceful activists, militants and violent extremists who are opposed to society’s reliance on fossil fuels,” the memo says.
“If violent environmental extremists engage in unlawful activity, it jeopardizes the health and safety of its participants, the general public and the natural environment.”
It does not refer to the findings of the United Nations’ climate science panel, the IPCC, and its exhaustive reports on the causes of climate change and its consequence.
The language and tone of the RCMP memo are strikingly at odds with perceptions of climate change within the security establishment of Canada’s closest ally, the US, and with the current findings of the world’s best scientists.
Scientists have known for decades that the burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming, and parts of Canada are in line for some of its gravest consequences. The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world.
Canada has seen a consistent erosion of democracy since tar sands development escalated 10 years ago. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government holds a large majority of seats in Parliament. It’s political base is anchored in Alberta, whose provincial legislature is also dominated by like-minded Conservatives, and the influence of the tar sands industry reaches deep into the federal cabinet.
Meanwhile, anyone who questions the logic of a tar sands-based economy has been branded an unpatriotic extremist, while tar sands corporations and interest groups operate with little or no actual oversight. At the behest of the oil industry, the federal government has gutted Canada's most important environmental legislation to fast-track tar sands development, and crippled effective public oversight of an industry that poses tremendous social, economic and environmental risks for Canadians and the rest of the world.
Joel Plouffe, a Montreal-based managing editor of the journal Arctic Yearbook, said access remains limited and development is expensive in the Arctic.
"This is the reality. The boom is not there. And whatever will happen will take years and years and years," he said.
Environmental groups have raised many concerns about increased commerce in the Arctic. They bitterly oppose Arctic drilling in an environment that supports endangered whales, polar bears, ice seals and walrus. They contend not enough is known about drilling's effects on an ecosystem already being hammered by climate change, with summer sea ice continuing to be lost at a record pace. The groups also say oil companies have not demonstrated the ability to clean up a petroleum spill in ice-choked waters.
But Plouffe sees exciting developments in 2015 for the Northwest Passage over Canada and Alaska. One transit last year was a commercial ship travelling without an icebreaker
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In January 2010, the ongoing reduction in the Arctic sea ice led telecoms cable specialist Kodiak-Kenai Cable to propose the laying of a fiberoptic cable connecting London and Tokyo, by way of the Northwest Passage, saying the proposed system would nearly cut in half the time it takes to send messages from the United Kingdom to Japan.