You highlight a key distinction: Russia’s Arctic investment is subsidized by trade, while ours is a pure sovereignty cost. This economic gap makes big-ticket items harder to sustain here. The PBO estimates our two future Polar Icebreakers will cost $7.25 billion. Without the commercial shipping traffic you mention to justify infrastructure, Canada faces a steeper 'sovereignty tax' than Russia, where icebreakers effectively pay their own way.
That was a good read! I was definitely one of those people who thought we didn’t “keep up”. I still wonder if we shouldn’t be starting to catch up now, with the Arctic ice retreating, and likely more economic opportunities to follow that, will certainly mean more traffic in the Arctic.
True! I think the NSS is doing great work! But, those ships for the Coast Guard are only replacing aging hulls, not expanding the fleet. The coast guard operates a fleet today designed to only operate minimally in the Arctic, with the bulk of its fleet in the south. As the Arctic ice opens up they’re likely to find themselves thin on capacity without additional hulls.
I’m very worried about our Arctic sovereignty and have been since I worked there as a nurse in the 1980s. There were already sightings of Russian ice breakers then… we have neglected this for years and now we have to catch up. It’s going to be costly but well worth it.
You highlight a key distinction: Russia’s Arctic investment is subsidized by trade, while ours is a pure sovereignty cost. This economic gap makes big-ticket items harder to sustain here. The PBO estimates our two future Polar Icebreakers will cost $7.25 billion. Without the commercial shipping traffic you mention to justify infrastructure, Canada faces a steeper 'sovereignty tax' than Russia, where icebreakers effectively pay their own way.
That was a good read! I was definitely one of those people who thought we didn’t “keep up”. I still wonder if we shouldn’t be starting to catch up now, with the Arctic ice retreating, and likely more economic opportunities to follow that, will certainly mean more traffic in the Arctic.
The National Shipbuilding Strategy has delivered 9 ships with Polar Class 5 or better since 2018. And there are another 26 that are meant to follow.
Some of the timelines around the future ships are still vague. But that's a huge investment. We're not sleeping on this.
True! I think the NSS is doing great work! But, those ships for the Coast Guard are only replacing aging hulls, not expanding the fleet. The coast guard operates a fleet today designed to only operate minimally in the Arctic, with the bulk of its fleet in the south. As the Arctic ice opens up they’re likely to find themselves thin on capacity without additional hulls.
Very informative. I'd not heard of any of this. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting
I won't go on twitter so I won't see this otherwise.
Really enjoyed this , very informative and lots of stuff I didn’t know
Great post. Thank you.
Re: Unfiltered and some others I smell troll..
I’m very worried about our Arctic sovereignty and have been since I worked there as a nurse in the 1980s. There were already sightings of Russian ice breakers then… we have neglected this for years and now we have to catch up. It’s going to be costly but well worth it.
Thank you for a good review, PH. Unfortunately, some of your commenters are distracted by their own ridiculous biases.
Canada does not even have a submarine, a aircraft carrier, not even one F-35.
Canada’s military consists of a Icebreaker up north, two fishing boats on each coast.
Antiquated Air Force.
No ground troops to speak of.
But Carney is Canada’s Commander in Thief.
Sounds a lot like Trump without the Military.
But Canada is ready to go war with the US.
Carney should give himself a shake.
That is not leadership Canadians can count on.
That is Carney bullshit Canadians can count on.
Wouldn’t a couple kids with Eskimo pies outgun the Canadians anywhere these days? I thought Trudeau gave up the whole notion of ‘national defense’.
because we are governed by the weak, elected by the uninformed