U.S. Thinks Harper's Arctic Focus is Just Rhetoric

Cables released by WikiLeaks say the U.S. Embassy shows skepticism over Conservative promises made to the North.

The U.S. government questioned whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper's focus on the Arctic was empty rhetoric with little follow-up on his party's plans for the region, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. Cables from January 2010 bearing Ambassador David Jacobson's signature say that Harper didn't mention the Arctic once during a meeting with the ambassador that lasted several hours, leading him to believe that the prime minister's “public stance on the Arctic may not reflect his private, perhaps more pragmatic, priorities.” The cable notes that many promises made by the Tories for the Arctic, including buying armed icebreakers and building an Arctic naval station by 2012, have yet to be fulfilled.