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Global warming brings job opportunities
David Fuller takes a look at why global warming may lead to a number of new employment opportunities opening up in Northern Canada.
Covering an area of over 9.5 million square kilometres, Canada is the world's second-biggest country, behind Russia, and is home to almost 34 million people. Yet, in spite of all this space, an estimated 90 per cent of Canucks currently live within 200 kilometres of the main US border. This leaves vast expanses of wilderness in the northern reaches of the country, which, until recently, have been of little interest to many people either inside or outside of Canada.
Of course, when you consider that approximately 40 per cent of Canada's total land mass falls inside the boundaries of the Arctic Circle, it's not too hard to fathom why so many Canucks choose to live in the warmer, better developed and more economically stable south. However, as you may or may not already be aware, in recent months developments in the Arctic Circle have been gaining increasing worldwide attention largely thanks to that most dreaded of modern phenomenons: global warming. And if you work in an industry associated with natural resources and mining, then these recent happenings may just be of interest to you.
While it is unusual to see the words 'global warming' and 'positive' together in the same sentence, one benefit that the warming up of the planet could have is that, as the ice in the Arctic Circle starts to melt, shipping routes through the Northwest Passage will become more navigable. This would result in the passage becoming a prime trade route and will, potentially, lead to billions of dollars in transportation costs being saved each year, as shipping ports located in the Arctic – and indeed Canada's Hudson Bay – would be far quicker and easier to access from both Europe and Asia.
The melting of the ice around the Northwest Passage would also free up an area that is believed to hold substantial mineral, oil and gas reserves. Some experts have predicted that up to 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas supplies could lie below the thawing Arctic ice, which at the moment is nigh on impossible to get at.
As a result of the rapidly thawing ice, the Arctic Ocean has become the subject of an international game of tug-of-war, with Canada, Denmark, Russia, the United States and Norway all claiming that disputed, and potentially lucrative, parts of the frozen ocean belong to them – international law states each country is limited to a 200-mile economic zone around their coastlines. Leaving aside, for a moment, the obvious financial benefits and increased industry associated with more gas, oil and various minerals being discovered, as far as the opening up of the Northwest Passage as a shipping route is concerned, Canada arguably has the most to gain of any of these five countries. Improved shipping routes would provide an important economic boost to many of the port towns in Northern Canada, which in turn would greatly assist with the development of the country's northern lands. Easier navigation through the Northwest Passage and, as a result, Hudson Bay would enable ports such as Churchill in Manitoba and Moosonee in Ontario to operate all year round.
Writing on the libertarian website Le Quebeclois Libre last year, Harry Valentine, a free marketeer from Eastern Ontario, further elaborated on the consequences global warming could have on this area. "If ocean levels rise, ports could be moved further inland," he wrote. "It may be possible to dredge the Nelson River to allow ocean-going ships year-round passage into the southern parts of Lake Winnipeg where a major intermodal terminal could be built at a future time." Such developments would, needless to say, bring huge economic boosts and plenty of jobs to both Churchill and Moosonee, along with many of the other ports located on the Hudson Bay.
In the same article, Valentine also states that a warming up of Canada could allow for the lands on either side of the Hudson Strait (Quebec and Nunavut) to become far more "hospitable" for humans, and that it is highly plausible that more people will soon start paying greater consideration to the thought of migrating to areas of northern Quebec and southeastern Baffin Island. Valentine argues that warmer temperatures would not only enable these regions to support an agricultural industry, but would also allow for methane to be more "easily released from northern tundra lands and be used to generate electricity at a myriad of small power stations located across Northern Canada."
He also writes that, in time, even more areas of Northern Canada could become more suitable for human habitation. "Global warming could mean that the Canadian population could expand to locations that are north of the 55th parallel where agricultural production may become possible at a future time," he writes. "The population could even increase at locations that are north of the 60th parallel."
In terms of mineral deposits, Canada is already preparing for a substantial global warming-influenced increase in supplies, with new mines having opened all across Canada's three northern territories, particularly in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (NWT). In NWT, the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline alone is expected to add an extra 8,000 jobs to the territory's job market during 2008. Earlier this year Bob Long of the Baffin Business Development Centre in Iqaluit (Nunavut's capital, located on Baffin Island) told Monocle magazine that he estimates the budget for geological exploration in Northern Canada to have tripled in a year to CDN$300 million. However, he believes this expenditure will soar far higher once the Arctic's reputedly large gas and oil reserves can be reached.
Already, proposals have been made for new deep-water ports to be developed in Canada which would make it easier to transport minerals out from the mines, both old and new, located north of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, such as Snap Lake. Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay, located in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, have been earmarked as possible locations for such ports. Of course, we are not suggesting for one moment that all this means that the affects of global warming will be overwhelmingly positive for Canada. Far from it, in fact – it remains a huge threat for much of the country. But if you are looking for a silver lining, and you work in the natural resources industry, then all the various developments taking place in Northern Canada, including global warming, are well worth keeping an eye on.
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