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way to go Harper
I didn't vote for, nor do i like Harper and the conservatives, but this just put him a notch higher on my list
| quote: | Harper rebukes US envoy over Arctic
By David Ljunggren Thu Jan 26, 3:26 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper, who campaigned on the need to improve relations with Washington, rebuked the U.S. ambassador on Thursday for rejecting Canada's claims to the Arctic.
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Harper, whose Conservatives won a fragile mandate in Monday's election, said during the campaign that Prime Minister Paul Martin had needlessly exacerbated ties with the United States.
But Harper showed little hesitation in slapping down U.S. envoy David Wilkins for making critical remarks about Conservative plans to boost Canada's presence in the far north.
"The United States defends its sovereignty, the Canadian government will defend our sovereignty," Harper told reporters during his first news conference since the election.
"It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States."
Harper, vowing to boost defenses in the Arctic to stop incursions by foreign vessels, plans to buy three new large icebreakers and build a deep sea docking facility in the Arctic for a total cost of C$2 billion over 10 years.
The United States has long challenged Canada's claims to sovereignty over Arctic waterways -- fabled as the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific -- saying it considers much of the region to be international waters.
This could have serious implications if ice in the Northwest Passage starts to melt due to global warming and shipping companies decide to send vessels through the area to save time and fuel.
"There's no reason to create a problem that doesn't exist," Ambassador Wilkins told reporters on Wednesday during a discussion about the plan to buy the icebreakers.
"We don't recognize Canada's claims to those waters ... Most other countries do not recognize their claim."
Canada says the passages through the archipelago of Arctic islands above the North American mainland are domestic waters.
Wilkins also made headlines during the campaign when he publicly complained about politicians attacking the United States in a bid to win voter support.
Martin regularly criticized Washington for its stance on a trade dispute over softwood lumber and also blamed rising violent crime on smuggled U.S. handguns.
He also said Harper had taken his political agenda from "extreme right" social conservatives in the United States.
Despite Martin's attacks, Harper won the election, but only has 124 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons and will need to seek support from other parties to govern.
He pledged to co-operate with opposition groupings and Canada's 10 provinces once he is sworn in on February 6.
Harper said he had found "a remarkable amount of multi-party consensus" on many of his priorities -- such as cleaning up government.
"We'll look for shared goals and for common ideas, and working together we'll seek to implement ideas that will help ordinary working people, and that will strengthen our federation," he said.
Aides told reporters that Harper had not yet decided when to present his first budget.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060126..._politics_c_col
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