HALIFAX -- Canada's largest icebreaker is scheduled to leave Halifax Harbour today on a mission to the North Pole.
Federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc was on hand in Halifax Thursday as Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent prepared for its latest adventure.
Leblanc took a tour of the vessel, which is set to leave Friday for the North Pole, where it will map the ocean floor to strengthen Canada’s case for control of far northern waters.
“We believe we have a very strong case to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, but in order to do so, it has to be based on something more than political bluster,” says Leblanc. “It’s got to be based on science, it’s got to be based on international law. Those two concepts come together beautifully in this mission that begins tomorrow.”
The data from the trip will be used to define the outer limits of Canada's continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.
Once the data is analyzed, a submission is expected to be presented to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2018
On Thursday afternoon, the minister also announced $250,000 in federal support for the development of an ocean school pilot project at Dalhousie University.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Allan April.
