Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 23/05) - Conservative leader Stephen Harper's plan Thursday to boost Canada's military presence and sovereignty in the Arctic won immediate support from an expert.

"These proposals are a bare minimum of what must be done soon," said David Bercuson, director of a the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

"We have virtually no winter capability now, as exercises demonstrate. We're flirting with a dire political future in the North if we don't do something like this."

The plan is part of the Conservative's proposal to boost military spending by more than $5 billion. It includes:

• Three armed icebreakers and 500 military forces personnel to be stationed in Iqaluit.
• A new deep water dock at Iqaluit.
• A military training centre at Cambridge Bay.
• Search and rescue aircraft to be stationed in Yellowknife.
• Recruit up to 500 more Canadian Rangers.
• Establish a sensor system to detect submarines in Arctic waters.
• Increased surveillance by aircraft based in CFB Comox and CFB Goose Bay.
• An Arctic emergency response battalion, stationed at CFB Trenton.