Is this a fiendish plot by the Americans to declare the Arctic theirs by dint of protecting an endangered species that Canada refuses to protect?
Bush administration to propose listing polar bears as threatened species
A Canadian committee examining whether the country's polar bears need more protection is expected to complete its work next year.
Despite Stephen Harpers announcement that his Government will defend Canadas right to the Arctic he seems to have forgotten that responsiblity includes defending the rights of all inhabitants in the region, which of course includes the Polar Bear.
Cold comfort for polar bearsThe Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, December 29, 2006
And in the second place, the Kyoto-skeptical U.S. may now be moving out in front of the Canadian government on the issue -- and on that most Canadian of subjects, the high Arctic. So far, the polar bear is deemed by Ottawa to have only "special concern" status under the Endangered Species Act.
Meanwhile in Calgary this announcement about the Polar Bears is being used as an excuse to imprison one or two for breeding purposes in the Calgary Animal Penal Colony, aka the Calgary Zoo.
Officials at the Calgary Zoo say a U.S. government recommendation on polar bears proves the need for an Arctic exhibit at the facility. The zoo’s “Arctic Shores”—an exhibit currently under development and expected to open in 2009—has been criticized for a plan to house polar bears and beluga whales. Earlier this year, the animal-rights organization Zoocheck Canada protested the $120-million plan, saying it is cruel, misguided, outdated, and unnecessary.
And while some folks will talk about Indigenous Peoples rights and cultural need to hunt Polar Bears, well the reality is that in all actuality the hunting is sport hunting, the most detesible forms of hunting, done by American hunters with Inuit acting as guides.
Polar bear guiding benefits community: hunter
Nunavut fears fallout from polar bear proposal
Meanwhile the news gets worse for the Hot Air Tories, whose only concern is toxic chemicals and air pollution. Despite a year of denying they can do anything about Global Warming and Climate Change, the ultimate failure of their Made In Canada Climate Change Policy is the continuing melting of the Arctic. The same arctic that Stephen Harper has declared is the Soverign Territory of Canada.
Vast ice shelf collapses in the Arctic