Canada's North and the continuing global resource grab

As a Canadian, having grown up learning about the extent of our country's territory in school year after year, it seems surreal to now be told by the U.S. Ambassador that we have all been incorrect. Surprise! Sovereignty depends on the phase of the water between islands. With ice now melting up north for large parts of the summer, the oil, gas and rich mineral deposits are now accessible, not to mention a much shorter shipping route to Asia. The article, The True North Strong and Free? gives a very good summary of the issues. To quote:

"The Canadian Arctic is known to hold within its ancient Precambrian bedrock rich veins of ores and minerals that until recently have been inaccessible to extraction. It boasts a burgeoning $2 billion diamond industry, currently producing 12.6 million carats a year. Other significant resources opening up to exploitation in the Arctic include gold, silver, platinum, tungsten, uranium, petroleum, and natural gas – according to Natural Resources Canada. The Arctic archipelago is currently the most explored area in Canada for new mineral resources. Clearly, northern Canada will play a fundamental role in future resource extraction."

Working for BP over the last year in a group dedicated to studying oil & gas potential in the Russian Arctic, it is no surprise to me that the Canadian Arctic resources are drawing attention. What confounds me is why the American's need to be belligerently seeking national sovereignty in a place that no one in their right mind would claim is not Canadian territory, especially when they could easily gain control through corporate ownership as they have done in the Alberta Oil Sands.

Even the Anglo-American multinational BP-Amoco bought it's way into huge arctic reserves by buying the Canadian Dome Petroleum company in late 1980's. Why does the U.S. need to promote a foreign policy that blatantly pisses off everyone else in the whole world including Canada? I guess it's easier to cruise around the Canadian arctic with their nuclear powered subs than to maneuver the streets of Baghdad....