It annoys me to no end that our federal gov't seems to require a push from the US to do something like protect our northern regions.

Jfc already.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Canadian government has purchased a strategically located aircraft hangar in Inuvik, N.W.T., for $8.6 million — a move that's being met with relief by northerners and experts on Arctic security who were alarmed by foreign interest in the facility.

On Wednesday, Daniel Minden, director of communications for the office of the minister of National Defence, told CBC the federal government did an analysis of the hangar's strategic value and "found a clear interest in acquiring the facility" — a marked change from the department's position in April 2023 that the hangar was useful but not essential.

He pointed to a study of it by a Senate committee that involved a visit to Inuvik, crediting that as something that helped Canada "wake up" to the strategic significance of the hangar.

It'll also be important for the F-35s Canada is purchasing, according to Rob Huebert, the interim director for the Centre of Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary — as will the federal government's project to extend Inuvik's runway from 6,000 to 9,000 feet (or 2,743 metres).

Huebert told CBC the significance of the sale comes from several other factors as well: the hangar's proximity to the NORAD base at the Inuvik airport, especially in the wake of pledges to modernize NORAD; the capability it gives the military to house F-35s and other aircraft within the Arctic circle; and the message it sends about the federal government's commitment to defend the Arctic.

Wood, Inuvik's mayor, told CBC he's been writing letters to the Department of National Defence for several years about the hangar and other Arctic security-related issues.

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