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UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001198 
 
NOFORN 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA, OES, EEB, INR, EUR 
WHITE HOUSE ALSO FOR CEQ 
 
E.O. 12958: DNG: UN 09/12/2018 
TAGS: SENV EWWT PBTS TPHY TSPL CA
SUBJECT: NSPD/HSPD ON ARCTIC POLICY - REQUEST CONSIDERATION 
TO DELAY RELEASE 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly.  Not 
for release outside the U.S. Government. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Embassy strongly believes release of the 
new Arctic Policy National Security Presidential 
Directive/Homeland Security Presidential Directive during 
Canada's federal election campaign has the potential to 
insert the United States as an issue in the campaign and 
negatively impact U.S.-Canadian relations.  Embassy requests 
Washington agencies to delay the release of the new policy 
until after the October 14 election.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Embassy understands the United States is preparing 
to release a new National Security Policy Directive/Homeland 
Security Policy Directive on U.S. policy toward the Arctic. 
Embassy appreciates that Washington agencies are developing a 
"roll-out strategy" aimed at ensuring our new policy is not 
misinterpreted by host country governments and stressing the 
value we place on cooperation among Arctic states on science 
and protecting the environment. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Prime Minister Harper has made the Arctic a priority 
focus for his government.  The current Canadian federal 
election campaign will pay significant attention to the 
Arctic, with the Prime Minister echoing the themes of 
Canada's Arctic heritage and sovereignty he has enunciated 
regularly in the past.  As we have reported, the Arctic and 
Arctic "sovereignty" are issues of great importance to 
Canadians, and support for greater Canadian activity in the 
Arctic is universally popular among the Canadian electorate. 
 
¶4. (SBU) We disagree with Canada's position on the status of 
the Northwest Passage and have questions over some of the 
measures Canada has announced recently (such as Harper's 
August 27 suggestion that Canada would make mandatory the 
vessel traffic reporting provisions of its existing NORDREG 
system that are now just "encouraged"), but for the most part 
we support what Canada is doing to increase its presence in 
the Arctic.  As the President said in Montebello on August 
21, 2007, "the United States does not question Canadian 
sovereignty over its Arctic islands, and the United States 
supports Canadian investments that have been made to exercise 
its sovereignty."  Already at a high level, our cooperation 
with Canada on Arctic research continues to expand, as 
evidenced by the ongoing joint cruise for Arctic seabed 
mapping of U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard vessels. 
 
¶5. (SBU) While we understand the new Arctic policy NSPD/HSPD 
will not announce changes with respect to our current 
relationship with Canada in the Arctic (including over the 
status of the Northwest Passage, Canadian sovereignty over 
its Arctic islands, the Beaufort Sea maritime boundary, or 
our long-standing cooperation with Canada on Arctic issues in 
general), the issuance of a new United States Arctic policy 
during the Canadian federal election campaign will provoke 
considerable attention ) almost regardless of what the 
policy says ) and may play a role in the campaign and 
Qpolicy says ) and may play a role in the campaign and 
election.  In the current environment Embassy expects that 
all parties vying in the election would criticize a new U.S. 
Arctic policy, and other parties would be especially harsh in 
their criticism of Stephen Harper's Conservatives for not 
having dissuaded the U.S. from issuing that new policy.  That 
harsh criticism might resonate widely among the electorate, 
and we run the risk of provoking a response that could lead 
to a hardening of positions and a lessening of the overall 
excellent cooperation we maintain with Canada in the Arctic. 
 
¶6. (SBU) For these reasons, Embassy requests the Department 
and other Washington agencies delay the release of the 
NSPD/HSPD on Arctic policy until after the conclusion of the 
Canadian federal election on October 14. 
 
 
OTTAWA 00001198  002 OF 002 
 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
WILKINS