(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-11 03:09

TORONTO - Canada will build two new military facilities in the Arctic in a move to assert sovereignty over the contested region, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.

Harper said Canada will install a new army training center and a deepwater port. He made the announcement in Resolute Bay, Nunavut _ about 370 miles (595 kilometers) south of the North Pole _ just a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Five countries _ Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark _ are competing to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed. One study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

Harper's visit has been planned for months, but has taken on new importance since the Russian subs dove 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) to the Arctic shelf and planted their country's flag in a titanium capsule.

Harper said both installations will help back up Canada's ownership claim to the waters and natural resources of the Northwest Passage _ a claim disputed by countries including the United States, Japan, and the European Union.

"Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: Use it or lose it," Harper said. "Today's announcements tell the world that Canada has a real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic."