Carney moves to shutter Nanisivik Naval Facility, sell Arctic site
Ottawa is shutting down the nanisivik naval facility on northern Baffin Island and plans to transfer the property to another party. The Department of National Defence has already started moving the base out of operations, ending its role as a planned Arctic naval port.
National Defence says the site has already absorbed upwards of $110 million, and that another $200 million would have been needed to make it fully operational. The government says the facility is no longer needed because its seasonal access window is very short, construction kept running into problems, and jetty repairs were costly.
Mark Carney and National Defence
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is carrying out the shutdown as a cost-cutting measure. It says the long range of the Harry DeWolf-class Arctic offshore patrol vessels means the base is no longer needed for refuelling, which removes the main operational use the station was expected to serve.
The facility was built at a former mining site under the government of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It was envisioned as a deepsea port and a show of Arctic sovereignty, but National Defence has described it as problem-plagued. The current plan marks a change from a base meant to support Arctic presence to one the department is moving out of service.
Northern Baffin Island plans
The shutdown leaves Ottawa with a property it says it will eventually transfer to another party. For now, the practical effect is that the naval station is being taken out of operations rather than expanded, and the money already spent will not be followed by the larger construction bill that would have been required to finish the site.
That leaves the Arctic government and defence question in a narrower place: the base is being closed because its intended mission no longer fits the vessels it was built to support, and Ottawa has chosen to stop paying for a facility it says would still need major investment before it could function as planned.
