Canada won’t be ‘bullied’ over Arctic, Cannon tells Russians

Posted by John Malloy on 03/27/2009

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Canada “will not be bullied” by Russia when it comes to staking claim over the Arctic, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday.

His remarks in Montreal came the same day as Russia said it would amass an army dedicated to protecting its interests in the Arctic.

The plan, revealed in a document released by the presidential security council in Moscow this week, was reported in the Russian media on Friday.

Speaking to the International Relations Council on Arctic Sovereignty, Cannon said he will make Canada’s position clear to the Russian foreign minister at a meeting next week.

Canada is among several countries in the world, including Russia, the United States and a number of Nordic European nations that are seeking to assert jurisdiction in the disputed territory because it holds many untapped natural resources.

The dispute has intensified as shrinking polar ice has allowed the opening of new shipping lanes to those natural resources…

www.cbc.ca

Posted by John Malloy on 03/27/2009. Filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry