New Canadian consulate won't sway Trump's Greenland ambitions, former policy director says

OTTAWA — Nothing but well wishes.

That’s about the only thing Canada has to offer amidst escalating efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland, says a former ministerial policy director, as Canada announces its intention to open a consulate in the Danish-held Arctic island next month.

“We have serious challenges defending our Arctic interests and sovereignty, it’s hard to see how a consulate in Greenland is going to strengthen our hand, or the Greenlanders and Danes,” said Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow Joe Varner, explaining the move will do nothing to deter what he says appears to be an aggressive bargaining strategy.

“The Carney government is flailing around trying to look relevant, but we really have nothing to offer other than well wishes.”

Canada to open consulate in Nuuk next month

In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Varner said the decision to dispatch Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Governor General Mary Simon to open a new consulate in Nuuk, Greenland will make little difference in Trump’s intentions to take over the strategically-important island.

“The government will try and cloak this in the Arctic Council, (NATO’s) Northern Flank, NATO solidarity and the closeness of Inuit Peoples — all good things to say, but not a lot of substance in real terms.”

Speaking to reporters in Paris on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the future of Greenland will be decided “solely by the people” of Denmark and Greenland, and said Canada supports Denmark’s sovereignty.

In France attending a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, Carney met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on the meeting’s margins to discuss Trump’s escalating rhetoric.

Other European leaders on Tuesday stated that the U.S. taking Greenland by force will spell the end of the 76-year-old NATO alliance.

On Tuesday, the White House said they aren’t backing down on their ambitions to annex Greenland, adding that military force is “always an option.”

Greenland is vital territory in Atlantic Arctic

Varner said the United States isn’t wrong in the strategic importance of Greenland, saying that if NATO, Denmark or the EU isn’t prepared to safeguard Greenland, the U.S. will have to.

“In a time of war, or near war, the US is going to have to make hard decisions as they did in the Second World War with regard to controlling Greenland — it is strategically important territory on North America’s northeastern Arctic flank,” he said, explaining that both Russia and China have both economic and military interests in the region, particularly deposits of both strategic minerals and uranium.

“Russia and China have increasingly engaged in joint operations both bomber and warships on the Pacific Arctic approaches to North America, there is absolutely nothing that prevents them from doing the same on the Atlantic Arctic approaches to North America. Trump is not wrong, and I think he is pushing for a deal to enhance Arctic and North American security.

“Canada could be next.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

RECOMMENDED VIDEO