Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Friday 27 January 2006

Canadian PM-designate stakes claim in Arctic

Stephen Harper, Conservative PM-designate after Canada's recent elections, has staked his country's continuing claim to Arctic sovereignty, in the face of US pressure that the north-west passage should be designated an international territory. I have been reading about this dispute between friends for at least the past 18 months, fuelled by the prospect of the north-west passage becoming a reliable channel for navigation if global warming continues to develop, with the Canadian military increasingly willing to [try to] defend the country's claimed sovereignty.

That's one side of the coin.

It's not yet clear what Mr Harper plans to do about Canada's law permitting gay marriage, though. It has been feared that he would attempt to overturn this legislation, but all that has been said to date, since the election, is that he intends to "deal with the same-sex marriage issue early in his mandate, but not immediately" - so that's all very clear, then. Ho, hum ...

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