Ottawa wants to modernize a region in the north that’s about six times the size of Texas, ‘just like in the 1800s’
Picture an Arctic territory, marginalized by its own country, almost entirely lacking roads, ports and power sources, but rich in mining potential and suddenly feeling vulnerable to outside threats.
It’s not Greenland; it’s the Canadian Arctic.
After decades of underinvestment, Ottawa is now turning its attention to the country’s north amid an outbreak of nationalism and new spending, in reaction to provocations by the Trump administration.
In June, the government of newly elected prime minister, Mark Carney, passed a “nation-building” bill meant to cushion the effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs by drumming up jobs and investment with fast-tracked construction projects. “We can give ourselves far more than any foreign government can take away,” he said.
