Pierre Poilievre’s announcement in Iqaluit that under a Conservative government Canada will build a permanent military base in the Arctic, and order two more heavy icebreakers, had very deliberate echoes with the defence policy of his predecessor as Conservative leader, Stephen Harper.
Nearly 20 years ago, Harper grafted onto an issue that was considered a curiosity by his opponents: militarizing the Canadian Arctic.
Canada had a choice when it came to defending its sovereignty in the North: “either we use it or lose it,” he said on one of his annual trips to the region in 2007.
