HMCS MONTREAL (CP) - While plans for a deep-water Arctic port for Canada's navy are still at sea, the future of a new winter warfare training centre for the army seems on solid ground. The man responsible for making the recommendation to the federal cabinet says that despite a lingering challenge from the south-central Arctic community of Cambridge Bay, the more northern locale of Resolute is likely to win.
"Resolute is right on the (Northwest) Passage," said Col. Chris Rousseau, director-general of military engineering.
"It's a good central location in which to have a presence. That's why it appears to be a front-runner."
As well, the federal government already has a presence in Resolute with the Natural Resources Canada Polar Shelf research facility, which has accommodations for 50 and adequate storage and equipment space. Scientists only use it during the summer, and the Defence Department could strike a deal to use it during the winter, Rousseau suggested.
A new building in the North could cost up to $20 million, he said. The Polar Shelf facility would cost about $500,000 a year to operate and maintain.
"It's an easy quick hit," said Rousseau from the bridge of the HMCS Montreal, where he's continuing his tour of northern communities and locations for both the port and the school.
The military's desire for a new winter warfare school dates back to at least 2000, when it was recommended in a federal government Arctic capability report. It said far fewer soldiers now receive Arctic training than in the 1970s, when a winter warfare school operated in Churchill, Man.
As a result, said the report, "most (sovereignty operations) degenerate to exercises in survival (and) most effort is spent trying to cope with the extreme cold and little effort is spent practising military skills."
Little is left of the Churchill facility and Resolute offers the best chance to replace it soon, Rousseau said.
The school would teach soldiers how to function in temperatures that plummet to -50 C and stay there, said Col. Chris Whitecross, commander of the Canadian Forces in the North.
"We'll teach them how to survive - how to dress properly, how to work in cold environments, how to patrol."
Rangers, made up of local aboriginals who serve in reserve units, will be brought in to teach skills such as interpreting snow conditions and understanding winds.
Changing climate has made the North more accessible than it's ever been, and the military needs to be able to respond to anything from a plane crash to an oil spill, Whitecross said.
"If we don't do it now and something happens, we won't be able to be as effective."
