region and the way in which Harper acted raised the possibility of a military conflict in the region. Under new Canadian Prime Justin Trudeau, the chances of a Canadian conflict in the Artic have been essentially removed. Trudeau, and his Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, although waiting roughly one year after taking office to make an announcement on the Arctic, have declared that they intend to work with Russia in the region, even though Canada and Russia have differing opinions on other issues in the world. 376 In addition to this Canada is never going to have a conflict with any of the other NATO member states in the Arctic due to the closeness of the military alliance, with state’s instead adopting a policy of agreeing to disagree. Therefore, although Canada will continue to promote its sovereignty claims in the region it will do so in a way it can cooperate with other nations. However, there may be one limitation on the cooperative way in which Canada wishes to operate in the Arctic, the way in which Canada defends the NWP as its own internal waterway. Canada has always maintained that the NWP should be treated as an internal waterway of Canada, and therefore have the rights associated with it (The NWP will be discussed in greater detail in the next section). 377 In conclusion, Canada has shifted its Arctic policy from an aggressive and assertive foreign policy under Stephen Harper, which resulted in the potential for conflict being high, to a cooperative policy under 376 Marie-Danielle Smith, ‘Trudeau government announces ‘rational’ shift in Arctic policy, will seek to work with Russia’, National Post , 1 October 2016, < http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian- politics/trudeau-government-announces-rational-shift-in-arctic- policy-will-seek-to-work-with-russia> [accessed 4 December 2016]. 377 Käpylä and Mikkola, p.4.
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