MP urges Harper to act in Beaufort Sea dispute

A Northwest Territories MP is urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to protect Canada’s claim to a disputed area in the Beaufort Sea, where the United States wants to drill for oil and gas.

Raising the issue this week in the House of Commons, Western Arctic NDP MP Bevington said the U.S. government and the Alaska state government are planning to sell oil and gas exploration leases off the northern coasts of Alaska and the Yukon.

The 21,000 square-kilometre area