February 24, 2005
Smoke and Mirrors from the Canucks
Canada Opts Out of US Missile Shield
However, polls indicate that most Canadians are opposed to the scheme. Many believe that the umbrella, when fully implemented, could lead to an international arms race.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, who leads a tenuous minority government, has said that Ottawa would not support what he called the “weaponization of space.”
Of course not. My guess is that the US wanted some money to help the research and development of this missile defense shield, and Canada is too burdened by their “free” health care that they can’t afford it.
In reality, however, they know that if we build missile defense, it will be designed to stop any missile heading anywhere near North America, so even if they rebuke us here, they’re still going to get protected by the shield. Granted, I’m pretty sure nobody is going to try to nuke Toronto (although losing Quebec wouldn’t be much loss), but they’re still going to be a free rider on our defense shield.
And I don’t see how this in any way is a part of the “weaponization of space.” That phrase is used to mark space-based weapons, not weapons that happen to travel through space. ICBM’s already travel through space, so if nothing else, we’re defending ourselves against the weaponization of space.
PS – All said, I’m not sure “missile defense” should be our highest priority. Any country that would fire a missile at us can likely be deterred by the doctrine of MAD. I think we should have it eventually, but it wouldn’t be priority #1 on my list.
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