| This thesis will demonstrate that foreign policy played an unusually important role in Stephen Harper's 2006 campaign. Building from an unstable 2004 base, Harper and the new Conservative party needed a coalition of interests to encompass 4000 kilometres of right-of-centre beliefs, for a country as diverse as Canada. Harper and the Conservative party used a north-focused foreign policy to brand their party in the 2006 election, utilizing Arctic sovereignty issues, including military policy and stewardship of northern residents. Historically, Prime Minister Diefenbaker had used promises of northern economic opportunity to win the 1957 election, and Prime Minister Mulroney had used foreign policy promises to win the 1988 election, seeking free trade with the USA, but neither combined both.;This thesis contains four Conservative party source interviews, and multiple literature reviews, including one of an unpublished 2005 Conservative platform. This thesis analyses which promised Arctic projects were implemented after 2006, and if there is a strategy to the government's Arctic actions today. Facts and realities are considered, such as the 2006 expected five year defence budget being significantly more than what was received; and having the largest military power in the world directly south, representing more than 80% of Canada's export market. This thesis also examines if northern sovereignty can be expressed with non-military methods, and reviews what the government has implemented since its election. Lastly, this thesis assesses how the government is handling other northern sovereignty issues that have arisen since the election, such as proof of the Canadian continental plate location in the Arctic, with the due date for its research in 2013. |
