New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived at the edge of the Arctic Circle on Tuesday in an effort to assert sovereignty over the increasingly contested region.
Carney will make a defense announcement in Canada’s far north while in the capital of the Inuit-governed territory of Nunavut. It is his last stop after visiting Paris and London where he met the leaders of Canada’s oldest allies.
The prime minister’s flight path took him over Greenland. U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in Greenland, northeast of Nunavut, comes as part of an aggressively “America First” foreign policy platform that has included threats to take control of the Panama Canal and suggestions that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Trump has threatened economic coercion to make Canada the 51st state. His constant talk of annexation has infuriated Canadians and turned around the political fortunes of the governing Liberal party who were headed for a historic defeat but now have a chance of winning a fourth term. Carney is expected to call a general election by the end of the week.
The prime minister is in Iqaluit, which is by far the largest municipality in Nunavut, a vast territory straddling the Arctic Circle. Nunavut is roughly the size of Alaska and California combined, with a mostly Inuit population of about 40,000.
For much of the year, the weather can be severe. In February 2010, Iqaluit hosted a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations. Several of the dignitaries, including Carney when he was head of Canada’s central bank, went dog-sledding in sub-zero temperatures.
It is a distinctive destination – home to about 7,500 people but not a single traffic light, with no road or rail links to the outside world.
Increasing international tensions, global warming and the changing world economy have put Arctic at the heart of the debate over global trade and security.
