Prime Minister Stephen Harper has confirmed that Ottawa will invest in new patrol ships and a deepwater port to protect Canada's arctic waters.

At a Monday news conference in Esquimalt, B.C., Harper said six to eight new patrol ships will be designed and built in Canada to guard the far north, including the Northwest Passage.

"Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic; we either use it or lose it," Harper said. "And make no mistake -- this government intends to use it."

Rob Huebert, associate director of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, told CTV Newsnet the ships will be able to navigate ice that freezes and melts annually, known as "first-year ice", but won't be able to probe areas with multi-year ice, found in much of the far north.

Because of these limitations, the ships will only be able to patrol the length of the Northwest Passage during the summer -- but they'll be used to guard the east and west coasts year-round. Each vessel will also be equipped with a helicopter landing pad.
The prime minister also said there will be a new deepwater port in the far north to serve the new ships but did not disclose the location. Harper said he'll announce the location of the deepwater port in the near future.

The government needed to invest in defence to keep the resource-rich region under Canada's control, he said.

"As the oil, gas and minerals of this frontier become more valuable, northern resource development will grow ever more critical to our nation," he said. "Nothing is as fundamental as protecting Canada's territorial integrity -- because the world is changing."

The ships will cost an estimated $3.1 billion to build and another $4.3 billion to maintain over their 25-year lifespan.

Partially keeping a promise

The patrollers fall short of the Conservatives' election promise to have ships throughout the Arctic year-round, since the vessels won't be able to sail in areas where ice is more than one metre thick.

Although Harper didn't live up to his promise, CTV's Robert Fife said building ice-breaker ships would have cost taxpayers a lot more and the benefit may not have been worth the big bucks.

"Although (they're) not the armed icebreakers the Conservatives had promised ... I'm told by people who know in the navy that these are very good ships," Fife told CTV Newsnet.

"The armed icebreakers would have cost about $1 billion each ... the patrol vessels which are about $300 million each and they will be able to operate for a fair chunk of the year."

Fife said the ships will still be watching Arctic waters when it counts -- in the summer months when there is less ice cover and more ships can navigate the frigid area.

But the Liberal defence critic doesn't think the patrollers will do enough to guard Canada's territory.

"We need to have global vision ... because climate change will force Canada to have true arctic sovereignty position," Denis Coderre said. "I don't think the policy promoted by the prime minister today is sufficient. We need to have a more aggressive domestic arctic strategy."

Huebert also said the government will eventually have to bite the bullet and invest in more expensive ships to penetrate and guard the entire region.

"We are going to need, ultimately, one or two icebreakers for the coast guard to get through the third year ice," he said.

Overall, Fife said the plan is a step in the right direction, because any patrols will mean improved defence in the region.

"Right now we have no capability whatsoever to assert our sovereignty in the Arctic," he said.

"The coast guard is not able to go up into the areas where the new vessels will go, and we have long-range aircraft that rarely goes up to that part of the Arctic to do any surveillance."

Huebert echoed Fife's approval -- he said if Harper keeps his commitment, he'll be the first Canadian leader to address the pressing issue.

"The fact that we're actually getting to the stage where we might be spending money on defending the arctic is ... of a magnitude that I just simply haven't seen before," Huebert said.

"Traditionally, we've seen all Canadian parties saying yes, this is important -- until they're actually asked to put money forward ... the fact that Harper actually raised this as an election issue is probably the first time I heard (of it) since Diefenbaker."