MP for Churchill-Keewatinook-Aski Niki Ashton is urging the federal government to nationalize the port of Churchill, Man., which has been closed since last summer.

Ashton says the port is a strategic asset that shouldn't be at the mercy of a private American corporation.

This comes off the decision last summer by Denver-based Omnitrax not to open the seasonal port this year.

Ashton says the solution would be for the federal government to take back the facility and establish a port authority to run it. Omnitrax has been in talks to sell the port and railway, although no deal has materialized.

The government had announced $4.6 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada for development in the Churchill region earlier this year.