This is a CBSI on the world. I'm John Batch for Gordon Chang at Gordon

G. My colleague and co-host and friend and we're joined by Charles Burton from Ottawa

riding at the Ottawa citizen. Canada's new top soldier needs to protect our

Arctic from China. What do we know about the Trudeau government and their opinion of the Arctic,

especially now that China is claiming to be near Arctic nation with nuclear

with the icebreakers Russia has at least one nuclear-powered icebreaker and the

Caesar opening. Good evening to you Charles.

Good evening. Well I think the main issue here with regard to the attitude of the government of Canada is that the government's not prepared to allocate much in the way of funds to defense as we've discussed on this program and in particular Canada's Arctic is essentially

undefended. There are commitments to put in 12 nuclear submarines or such a suggestion was made at the most recent NATO meeting

where Canada was roundly criticized for not fulfilling our obligations to the collective

defense of NATO.

But the funding for this will not be announced

for another four years and won't come into play until 2032.

In the meantime, China is working hard, mapping the floor of the of the Arctic seas.

Russia has made several indications including to the UN that they believe that Arctic seas right up to the Canadian

continental shelf should be considered Russian territory and and they are

expanding their their military presence there in a big way.

The benefit of having access to Arctic minerals and sea passages is potentially enormous and as we discussed on the program

before China did make an attempt to acquire through a state firm a gold mine in in the north of Canada money losing gold mine which had access to

Arctic Sea ports so you know it's not just about the seas and the underwater mineral resources, but also about the potential for China to start impinging on actual North American territory.

I think the concern is whether we would see a parallel in the Arctic seas

to what China has done in the South China Sea of making extravagant claims of the Polar Silk Road, and then

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