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Steven Forth's avatar

It will be interesting to see. There does notseem to be any support for this in Greenland, but Elon Musk may be willing to buy Greenland for the US by offering each person a large payment to vote to become a territory of the US. Of course territories of the US generally do not do well. They have even worse healthcare, educational and concentration of wealth outcomes than the US, which is saying something given how badly the US performs. I think a new Arctic alliance of Canada, Norway, Greenland/Denmark is something that should be proposed. But it would only work in Canada upped its defence budget (probably to 3% possibly higher) and invested that in ice breakers, maybe its own submarines, drones, a sensing network and a much larger physical presence.

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Pieter Dorsman's avatar

Arctic alliance is a good idea but it would be weak militarily.

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Steven Forth's avatar

Depends on the type of military you think is needed. Drones, sensor networks, small rapid response teams are the kinds of military needed. And icebreakers. This is a new world. The sunk investments of the US and Russia are less and less relevant. China is not really a player in the space.

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Steven Forth's avatar

Imagine Canada building expertise in all weather Arctic capable drones: for surveillance, delivery, and as needed to carry weapon systems. Drones can be airborne and under the sea.

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Pieter Dorsman's avatar

Big opportunity for our tech sector here

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Steven Forth's avatar

Yes, if the next government can act quickly. Canadian defence procurement has been a train wreck for as long as I can remember.

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