MONTEBELLO, Quebec: Canada's prime minister is expected to assert his nation's claim to the fabled Northwest Passage through the warming, resource-rich Arctic at talks with the presidents of the United States and Mexico starting Monday.

Canada claimed the passage in 1973 but competition to control the Arctic has intensified with global warming. Shrinking polar ice has raised the possibility of new shipping lanes and development of what one U.S. study suggested could be as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national flag under the North Pole this month. Denmark sent a team of scientists to the Arctic ice pack this month to seek evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range, is attached to the Danish territory of Greenland.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper went to the Arctic earlier this month and announced Canada will build a new army training center and a deep-water port in the Northwest passage.

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The summit involving Harper, U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon is largely about expanding economic cooperation among the three nations, but Harper will assert Canada's claim during a private meeting with Bush, Canadian officials said at a press briefing on the summit.

The United States and Norway also have claims in the Arctic, and the U.S. says the passage is not Canadian.

"It is a strait for international navigation," U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said in an interview. "That's not a unique view of the United States. That is the view shared by a majority of the countries in the world."

Bush's previous U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, however, argued that the U.S. should acknowledge the Northwest Passage as Canadian. Such a stance would allow the Canadian navy to patrol the area, monitor shipping and guard against potential terrorism and weapons smuggling, he said.

"I think, in the age of terrorism, it's in our security interests that the Northwest Passage be considered part of Canada," Cellucci, a Bush appointee who left the position in 2005, told Canadian television.

Harper has said Canada's new military installations will help back up Canada's claim to the waters and natural resources of the Northwest Passage, which runs below the North Pole from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago.

Stephen Clarkson, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, said bringing up the Arctic is a way for Harper to show Canadians he's not too close to the unpopular president.

"It's a gratuitous way to create a little distance between himself and Bush," Clarkson said.

Bush will meet privately with Calderon at Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, a small summer retreat on the banks of the Ottawa river.

The U.S. government is poised to offer a major aid plan to Mexico to fight drug trafficking and violence. Bush may announce part or all the proposal during the summit if the details are completed in time. The effort is expected to help pay for equipment and training.

For Bush, the summit with Canada and Mexico allows him to show he does not take his neighbors for granted; they are both vital trading partners and energy providers for the U.S.

"The message for Canada and Mexico is that despite the ongoing emphasis on Iraq and terrorism in U.S. foreign policy ... the U.S. is investing time and attention on relationships with our own region," said Chris Sands, a scholar of North American studies and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The partnership of the countries is a framework for working out problems — not a deal that was ever intended to produce dramatic announcements. None are expected at the summit.

Personally, Bush shares plenty of views with Harper and Calderon, two fellow conservatives and free-market advocates who have come into power during his second term.

It is not all cheery. The summit is drawing protests from critics of Canada's troop presence in Afghanistan and of the partnership among the three countries. Some Canadians see it as an insidious threat to their sovereignty, led by the United States.

Police were out in force Sunday in Ottawa, where protests began even before Bush was to arrive Monday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The summit itself will take place about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the east at a luxury resort in Montebello, Quebec, where security is even tighter.