Toys in the Prams
So Paul Martin has announced that Canada will not participate in the Missile Defence Shield. Obviously, the view is that such a decision will score points with the boys and girls in the constituencies (particularly in Quebec where the Liberals languish in the polls). Once again, the Liberals have shown that their way of governing when it comes to Canada-US relations is to throw their toys out of the pram.
The Government has failed to realize that, contrary to popular belief, rather than enhancing our sovereignty, the decision has weakened it further. Now, rather than having Canadian Armed Forces personnel sitting side by side with their US counterparts operating the North American missile defence (that does already happen in some shape or form by the way - it's called NORAD and it's worked very well for 50 years), we have now abrogated sovereign rights to Canadian airspace to our neighbours south of the border. Now, if Kim Jong-Il launches a missle at the US which is passing over Canadian airspace, Canada will not have the ability to decide or act on taking such a missle out. The US, on the other hand, will deem such a missle a threat and will take it out over Canadian airspace. They will have the capability of doing so and I can assure you that they won't seek Ottawa's consent beforehand.
I had breakfast last week with the Canadian Consul General here in Chicago. Over our omelettes, she produced lots of interesting statistics about how intertwined the Canadian and US economies are - the prevalent theme was one I have heard on many occasions before - a strong Canada-US relationship is in the interests of both countries and our two economies are so inextricably intertwined that we cannot be anything but friends. This seems to be the common theme emerging from all government mouthpieces these days - we can wave our phalluses in the face of our American cousins time and time again but they cannot ultimately do anything about it that will hurt Canadians because, if they do, it will hurt them to.
In the short term, that's probably right. But over the medium and long term, will Americans be as enthusiastic about purchasing from Canadian suppliers when other countries can fit the bill, will the US become less dependent on Canadian energy supplies, will the US shift from its current approach of "Fortress North America" to a plan to expend massive amounts of resources on upgrading security on the 49th parallel and saying Canada be damned, when it comes to border security?
For all of his platitudes about the Canadian-US relationship, Martin is as bad as Chretien when it comes to Canada-US relations. I'm just waiting for Rex Murphy to weigh in on the same.
The Government has failed to realize that, contrary to popular belief, rather than enhancing our sovereignty, the decision has weakened it further. Now, rather than having Canadian Armed Forces personnel sitting side by side with their US counterparts operating the North American missile defence (that does already happen in some shape or form by the way - it's called NORAD and it's worked very well for 50 years), we have now abrogated sovereign rights to Canadian airspace to our neighbours south of the border. Now, if Kim Jong-Il launches a missle at the US which is passing over Canadian airspace, Canada will not have the ability to decide or act on taking such a missle out. The US, on the other hand, will deem such a missle a threat and will take it out over Canadian airspace. They will have the capability of doing so and I can assure you that they won't seek Ottawa's consent beforehand.
I had breakfast last week with the Canadian Consul General here in Chicago. Over our omelettes, she produced lots of interesting statistics about how intertwined the Canadian and US economies are - the prevalent theme was one I have heard on many occasions before - a strong Canada-US relationship is in the interests of both countries and our two economies are so inextricably intertwined that we cannot be anything but friends. This seems to be the common theme emerging from all government mouthpieces these days - we can wave our phalluses in the face of our American cousins time and time again but they cannot ultimately do anything about it that will hurt Canadians because, if they do, it will hurt them to.
In the short term, that's probably right. But over the medium and long term, will Americans be as enthusiastic about purchasing from Canadian suppliers when other countries can fit the bill, will the US become less dependent on Canadian energy supplies, will the US shift from its current approach of "Fortress North America" to a plan to expend massive amounts of resources on upgrading security on the 49th parallel and saying Canada be damned, when it comes to border security?
For all of his platitudes about the Canadian-US relationship, Martin is as bad as Chretien when it comes to Canada-US relations. I'm just waiting for Rex Murphy to weigh in on the same.