While the majority of Canada's population lives within a hundred miles or so of its border with the United States, the Great White North does have an enormous Arctic coastline; more, in fact, than any other nation except Russia. The Arctic is an area of vast strategic importance, and now Canada's government is proposing to quadruple their submarine fleet — to 12 — to better cover their stretch of Arctic coastline with an enhanced under-ice presence.

Canada plans to acquire a dozen new submarines capable of traveling under sea ice as part of efforts to bolster the defense of the country's vast Arctic coastal region, the Canadian defense ministry announced last week.

"A larger modernized submarine fleet will help us detect and deter threats on all three coasts and protect Canadians and Canadian interests," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week at the NATO summit in Washington.

Part of Canada's concern involves the possible opening of a Northwest Passage, which would rapidly become the quickest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Any future conflict, should such a passage become usable, would see the various combatants seeking to interdict that trade route.

Canada, of course, is astride any such route.

The so-called Northern Sea Route could become the most efficient shipping route between Europe and Asia by 2050, the Canadian Department of National Defence said in a recent statement.

Canada's military noted "a growing number of Chinese dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms collecting data about the Canadian North," in addition to increased Russian activity in the Arctic region.

"Research vessels," indeed. The likely subject of research for these Chinese vessels surely includes evaluating the military capabilities of the United States and Canada in the region — and likely Russia, as well.

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Time for the Great White North to Pony Up: NATO Losing Patience With Canada

The Arctic is an area with vast strategic importance. Not only are there natural resources — oil and gas, among other mineral resources — it is an area that, in the event of a conflict, every nation in the northern hemisphere will be seeking to control. Russia and the United States have been operating nuclear submarines under Arctic ice for decades, and China will likely be seeking to do likewise if they have not already done so.

Canada is also planning to modernize their existing fleet of four submarines, which were purchased from the United Kingdom; presumably, any additional boats will also come from the UK.

The Canadian government has said it's already discussing its needs with manufacturers and, over the next decade or so, it also plans to modernize its existing fleet of four submarines, which were purchased from the U.K. in 1998.

Whether Canada's government under Justin Trudeau will actually spend the money on a matter of national security remains to be seen. Canada is, at present, falling short of the NATO requirement of 3% of GDP spent on defense, although the Trudeau government claims plans are in place to reach that goal by 2035.

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