The Quest for the North Pole

The Russian expedition reached the North Pole reports the BBC and the Russian mini-sub touched the ocean floor and planted a Russian flag. What does this mean for Canada and the world?

Peter MacKay, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister mocked the Russian expedition. According to The National Post:

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay dismissed it as "just a show" of Russian bravado.

In Charlottetown for the federal Conservative caucus meeting this week, Mr. MacKay said the diving expedition and flag-planting are "no threat to Canadian sovereignty."

Mr. MacKay, in a televised interview just hours after the Russian announcement, said: "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say, We're claiming this territory.'

"There is no threat to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic ... we're not at all concerned about this mission -- basically it's just a show by Russia," he told CTV.

The National Post continues by analyzing Canadian ambitions in the Arctic and whether Canada can compete with Russia. Canada cannot as it lack an icebreaker of cutting across the Arctic ice. In order for Canada to conduct its own research in the Arctic Ocean, research required for Canada to lay its own claim on the Arctic Ocean, it would have to rent a heavy icebreaker from either Russia or Finland:

Though the Russian findings are far from proven, one expert, Mr. Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, says Canada needs to identify possible underwater extensions to its own landmass before a 2013 deadline under the UN accord.

"Getting the work done on time will likely involve chartering a heavy icebreaker from Russia or Finland," Mr. Byers told CanWest News Service earlier this week. "So be it. The stakes involved more than justify the cost."

The Arctic ice may still be cold, but the race to claim the Arctic Ocean is certainly warming up quite quickly.