Finland's President Alexander Stubb was in Ottawa on Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney and senior cabinet ministers.Ashley Fraser/The Globe and Mail
Canada can significantly bolster defence of the Arctic by working hand-in-hand with Nordic countries as part of an emerging NATO security pact, Finnish President Alexander Stubb says.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail Tuesday, the leader of Finland said the threat from Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s musings about annexing Greenland have put the geopolitical spotlight on Arctic security.
“A lot of us are saying, well, shouldn’t we really focus on Arctic security? And especially together,” he said. “Yes, it will cost a lot of money, but we’re all increasing our defence expenditures.”
The Finnish President is in Ottawa for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney and senior cabinet ministers. He is also leading a high-level business delegation. The two leaders agreed to co-operate on cutting-edge technologies, critical minerals and Arctic security.
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Mr. Stubb said the wake-up call to better protect the Arctic came after Mr. Trump talked about the “territorial acquisition,” in Mr. Stubb’s words, of Greenland, a semi-autonomous island that is part of Denmark. The American leader eventually backed down in the face of European and North Atlantic Treaty Organization opposition.
Nonetheless, Mr. Stubb said Canada and its Nordic neighbours – Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland – need to step up their Arctic defences because of the continuing threat from Russia.
Moscow has been reinforcing its presence in the Arctic Circle with modern bases, multirole submarines and nuclear warheads. China has also been co-operating with Russia’s military in the Arctic and is eyeing the strategic shipping routes that are opening up because of global warming.
“We are only 100 kilometres away from Murmansk and the Kola Peninsula, where Russia has nuclear warheads, and those nuclear warheads are not directed at Helsinki, Stockholm or Oslo. They’re directed at New York and Washington,” Mr. Stubb said.
He said NATO co-operation in the Arctic will be on the agenda at its July leaders summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Nordic countries can work together on building frigates, corvettes and icebreakers while sharing Arctic know-how in troop training, he said.
“We have one million men and women that have been trained through obligatory military service in the Arctic conditions,” he said. “So there’s many things we can do together.”
Mr. Stubb, who has been described in the media as a “Trump whisperer,” said the way to deal with the mercurial President is to be direct but cordial.
“You don’t sort of beat around the bush,” he said, but noted that he, Mr. Carney and other European leaders speak to each other regarding conversations with Mr. Trump.
“We do co-ordinate a lot,” he said. “What are we going to discuss, you know, what’s the mood?”
The Finnish leader has talked of a NATO 3.0 where the alliance returns to its initial role as deterrence against Russia, with more European sharing of the collective security burden.
On Tuesday, Mr. Stubb said he believed NATO is moving toward this model. This means more defence industrial co-operation between European countries such as Finland in areas including shipbuilding for icebreakers.
He said it’s up to Ottawa, of course, “to decide how much responsibility Canada wants to take” for the security of Europe.
“To be honest, mentally, Canada is seen very much as part of Europe,” he said of thinking on the continent.
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Canada’s most foundational security commitments are the defence of North American territory through the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or NORAD, in partnership with the United States, alongside its collective defence obligations under NATO.
Could Canada ever join the European Union, the economic bloc of 27 member states?
Mr. Stubb didn’t directly answer a question on this, but said, “The closer we can bring Canada to the EU, the better.”
Polls in Canada indicate significant majority support for joining the EU.
The Finnish President said he “doesn’t know what the future relationship between Canada and the European Union” will be, but noted he doesn’t see a difference between Europe and Canada when he deals with Ottawa, either on the Coalition of the Willing helping Ukraine, on Nordic matters, or the Joint Expeditionary Force, a group of 10 like-minded countries that can deploy force to address crises.