The more this stinking onion—the Liberals’ decision to not support the Ballistic Missile Defence—is peeled back, the more questions I have about the Liberal Party of Canada and its ideology—or lack thereof—in defending our great nation. This article in today’s National Post by Mike Blanchfield raises some serious issues.
Martin accused of missile delusion
Mike Blanchfield
CanWest News Service
February 26, 2005OTTAWA – Paul Martin is “delusional” if he thinks the federal government would be contacted before the United States fired any defensive missiles into Canadian airspace, opposition MPs charged yesterday.
The Prime Minister said yesterday Ottawa “would expect to be consulted” before the Pentagon gave orders to shoot down an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile.
However, the Ottawa Citizen has learned the Liberals were told the missile shield is too complex to guarantee a non-partner any say in its operation.
In the Commons yesterday, Tory defence critic Gordon O’Connor noted, “There are only minutes available for a decision.”
Mr. O’Connor then asked: “How can the Prime Minister realistically believe the U.S. will consult him before firing their interceptor missile?”
The Conservative charge was underscored by the release of a document that says the Liberal government was told two years ago that the United States would be under no obligation to protect Canada from a hostile missile strike if Ottawa rejected participation in the Pentagon’s ballistic missile defence shield.
“Given the complexities of the system, and the short response times required (on the order of 20 minutes), the system simply cannot be altered on the spur of a moment to deal with unexpected situations,” says an analysis by the Department of Foreign Affairs, a copy of which was obtained under Access to Information by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin.
Mr. Martin maintained yesterday that Ottawa and Washington could work out a way to trade information before a response to a missile attack.
“Obviously, protocols can be—protocols can be worked out and I would expect that they will be,” Mr. Martin said.
He also took issue with U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci’s statement that Canada had forfeited sovereignty of its airspace with its decision not to participate in the missile shield.
“We’re a sovereign nation and you don’t intrude on a sovereign nation’s airspace without seeking permission,” Mr. Martin said
Outside the Commons, Tory foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said it was ridiculous to expect the United States would consult Canada with a missile headed toward the continent “at four kilometres a second.”
“This is crazy,” Mr. Day added, “and unfortunately our friends, our allies—our potential enemies—are wondering just what on earth is going on here.”
The documents obtained under Access to Information suggest the Liberals were aware that by opting out of missile defence they would risk losing any protection a successful shield might offer.
“The U.S. will offer protection to Canada only on the basis of an explicit government of Canada request. This would require a formal government-to-government agreement,” says a deck of slides that was presented at the April 10, 2003, Liberal Cabinet meeting.
In spelling out the security implications for Canada, the presentation stated “BMD missile intercepts to protect Canada will not be automatic” even though the system would be able to “differentiate between missiles aimed at the U.S. and Canada.”
Mr. Cellucci has said the United States was perplexed by Canada’s decision, but vowed that “we will protect North America.”
Mr. Martin was not in Jean Chretien’s Cabinet when the April, 2003, meeting took place, but it is likely he would have been informed about it by current Defence Minister Bill Graham and current Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew, who were both in Cabinet at the time—Mr. Graham at Foreign Affairs and Mr. Pettigrew at International Trade.
Canada and United States amended the NORAD treaty in August to allow it to provide the command-and-control function for the missile shield, but the actual decision to fire an interceptor rocket would now lie exclusively with a separate U.S.-only command.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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