12/07/2025
Dear Santa, Canada has long prided itself on protecting its Pacific coast, yet it still leans heavily on national measures like tanker bans rather than fully embracing the International Maritime Organization’s tools such as Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) and MARPOL Special Areas. These IMO provisions offer internationally binding protections, ensuring that all ships — not just Canadian ones — must follow stricter rules on pollution, routing, and reporting. By not fully designating its ecologically rich Pacific waters under these frameworks, Canada misses the chance to add global enforcement to its domestic marine protected areas, leaving sensitive ecosystems more vulnerable to international shipping risks. A stronger maritime policy approach that integrates these IMO mechanisms could provide Canada with a more balanced and internationally recognized system of protection.
So Santa, why does Canada hesitate to use these stronger international mechanisms that could complement its national policies and even strengthen energy exports? A tanker ban may stop certain vessels, but it doesn’t address the broader range of threats like garbage, sewage, or navigational hazards. IMO provisions are flexible, globally recognized, and designed to safeguard biodiversity while balancing trade. If Canada fully embraced them as part of a comprehensive maritime policy approach, its Pacific coast could enjoy both international legitimacy and comprehensive protection, while also providing safer, more reliable shipping routes for energy exports. Perhaps what Canada needs this holiday season is the courage to align its marine conservation with the tools already waiting at the global level.
🎄✨ When Canadians think about national strategy, energy, or trade, we tend to picture pipelines, power grids, and landlocked markets. What we sometimes forget is that Canada is a maritime nation — bordered by three oceans, home to vital ports, that link supply chains to global markets by sea. Overlooking this reality isn’t just an oversight; it’s a missed opportunity. 🌊⚓️
This Christmas, my wish is simple: a small shift in thinking that could make a very big difference. 🎁
Dear Santa,
This Christmas, I have one wish for Canada — small, simple, but potentially transformative: that our leaders begin viewing national strategy and energy through a maritime lens.
The recent Canada–Alberta Energy MOU emphasizes pipelines, electricity corridors, and the possibility of expanded oil exports. Prime Minister Mark Carney brings a lifetime of experience in global finance and public service. And while the energy and trade debate has evolved over the past two decades, his focus was understandably elsewhere. It’s easy to overlook a maritime perspective on the sea when land, politics, and markets demand constant attention.
It’s also still puzzling why so many provincial premiers seem to forget or fully understand that Canada is, fundamentally, a maritime nation and would benefit from applying a maritime policy lens to help identify solutions to common opportunities and concerns.
But Santa, as someone who doesn’t share your ageless energy — and who has watched these conversations repeat for years — it’s starting to feel like déjà vu. The debates over tanker bans, pipelines, trade, and national strategy keep resurfacing, often without fully embracing Canada’s maritime reality. I’m reminded of the expert testimony I provided at the request of a Senate Standing Committee in 2013, in which I was asked to educate Senators on the safe marine transportation of hydrocarbons. Even then, I argued that we would be wise to apply a maritime understanding of what we already know, rather than endlessly searching for some new technical innovation.
A maritime perspective would help Canada understand that:
* Shipping routes and global trade shape competitiveness and influence.
* Maritime security and Coast Guard readiness protect sovereignty and commerce — responsibilities made all the more important with the new American defence strategy announced Friday.
* Ports and regional coastal gateways are essential for trade diversification and for building resilience in supply chains and global markets.
* The Arctic requires strategic planning as its waters continue to open.
* Coastal and northern communities deserve a meaningful voice in national decisions.
The media has a role here, too. Too often, attention goes to the loudest commentators — voices that sometimes confuse the scope of maritime and marine activities — while those with deep knowledge of maritime strategy remain overlooked. Their insights could help shape smarter public debate and better policy.
So Santa, from one slowly aging Canadian to an eternally spry North Pole resident, I’m asking for a small nudge for our leaders: encourage them to adopt a maritime perspective as they chart Canada’s future. It might spare us from reliving the same conversations yet again.
🎄✨ Dear Santa, this year I don’t just wish for gifts under the tree — I’m hoping for stronger , a thriving , and bold to advance Canadian interests. May the sail toward greener horizons, guided by that keeps our planet merry and bright. 🌊⚓️
Under the chimney this year, instead of cookies and carrots for the reindeer I have left in the past, I will leave you something different: still‑relevant maritime policy research and articles. These are not treats, but they may prove even more valuable — ideas and insights that can help nudge leaders, journalists, and citizens toward a small shift in thinking with a very big impact. By recognizing Canada as a maritime nation, bordered by three oceans and connected to global markets by sea, we can move beyond narrow visions of pipelines and grids to embrace the broader strategies that shape our future from sea to sea to sea. https://wavepointconsulting.ca/shipping-matters-blog/)
Merry Christmas, A Canadian hoping for wisdom, foresight, and a maritime-minded future.
P.S. Santa, before you head back north, please keep a special eye on all the seafarers and their families this Christmas. You, more than anyone, understand the courage it takes to work in unpredictable weather and far from home. I know they hold a special place in your heart — please keep them safe on every ocean they cross.
