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Missile Defense Proposal Sparks Fierce Canadian Debate
By DAVID PUGLIESE
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 11:26 am ET, 15 March 2004
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VICTORIA, British Columbia — The Canadian government’s refusal to rule out the installation of U.S. missile defense radar on Canadian soil, has sparked a political firestorm, with some government members of Parliament (MPs) joining the opposition in their objections to the Pentagon’s system.
Twenty-nine MPs from the ruling Liberal Party voted with opposition members of Parliament Feb. 24 in Ottawa to break off ongoing negotiations with the U.S. government aimed at providing the Canadian military with a role in the U.S. missile defense system. The motion to halt negotiations was defeated 155 to 71, but did show divisions inside the ruling government about Canadian participation, according to military analyst David Rudd.
"I think these MPs are holding the government to its original line that the U.S. does not need Canadian territory for missile defense," said Rudd, president of the Toronto-based Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.
During the last several months, government officials repeatedly have said the United States is interested mainly in political support from Canada for the system and would not need Canadian territory.
But in interviews with the CTV broadcasting network and the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper on Feb. 22 and 23, Defence Minister David Pratt refused to rule out the option of Canada providing sites for the missile system.
"The Americans haven’t talked money with us," Pratt told the Globe and Mail. "But one of the things we have said is in-kind contributions are possible, possible use of Canadian territory for radar sites."
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Defence Feb. 23, Jim Wright, assistant deputy minister for global security policy at the Department of Foreign Affairs, repeated that the United States has not asked to use Canadian territory. He noted that a contribution to the U.S. system could involve the use of Canadian personnel at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
But a Department of National Defence report notes that besides command and control functions provided by NORAD, the U.S. missile system could benefit from the use of Canadian territory. That could involve placing tracking and target control sensors on Canada’s east coast, according to the seven-page May 7, 2001, report, "Potential Canadian Involvement in Ballistic Missile Defence." The report was declassified under Canada’s Access to Information law.
"To properly address the Middle Eastern threat an east coast system would have to be deployed," states the report, prepared by the Defence Department’s space directorate. "Canada’s value-added role would be to provide a place to deploy such a system."
"Canadian locations could provide TTC [tracking and target control] of the target missile 2-3 minutes faster than mainland U.S. locations," it adds.
MPs in the Liberal government, such as John Godfrey, a parliamentary secretary to Martin, have voiced concern that the U.S. system could eventually lead to weapons in space, a development that the Canadian government has long opposed. Other MPs who voted against the negotiations said Canada should not take part in the U.S. system because the country is not under the threat of missile attack.
"This is a lunacy program," Liberal MP Alex Shepherd said during a Feb. 17 debate on the issue.
Others said that signing on to the U.S. system would make Canadian cities potential targets for missile attacks.
Bill Graham, foreign affairs minister, said Feb. 24 that the government does not believe the U.S. system will lead to weapons in space. "If during our negotiations we find out that that is the case, we will withdraw from those negotiations," he said.
A U.S. Department of Defense source said the ongoing discussions with Canada are focusing on Canada’s "operational involvement" in missile defense.
"Current State Department-level discussions are within the existing NORAD language agreements," said the source. "In that context, there may be some existing operational capability which might assist NORAD in its missile defense mission."
The Canadian Defence Department announced Jan. 15 that Pratt had sent a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld requesting that Canada be allowed to view technical data on the missile defense system so it could decide whether to play a role. Pratt also said that cooperation on missile defense should be through NORAD.
"It is our intent to negotiate in the coming months a Missile Defence Framework Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, with the objective of including Canada as a participant in the current U.S. missile defence program and expanding and enhancing information exchange," Pratt wrote in his letter.
Rumsfeld responded that Canada and the United States should expand their cooperation in the area of missile defense and agreed to hold discussions on the issue.
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