Most Canadians Oppose Missile Defence: Poll

52%? I think we need to do a poll on who believes polls? My own pollercoaster says it's more than that.

Letter to MP Carolyn Parrish, who is against the Missile Defence
I have always believed, that "democracy" meant the will of the people...and not just at voting time.
How much louder do we have to raise our voices to make ourselves heard: we don't want to participate in the US' Missile Defence shield.
With an overall debt approaching US$ 7 trillion, the US can't afford this. It seems to me that Canada is being "asked" to partner, so that Canadian tax payers help foot the bill. An expensive bill that we don't wish to foot - money that is much better spent right here in our own country.
Canada commands respect around the world. Canada is admired for its peace-keeping efforts. Canadians travel the world over proudly displaying the Maple Leaf.
By associating with the biggest terrorist nation there is, Canada risks being tarred with the same feather: terrorist attacks. Perhaps our efforts should be directed towards convincing the USA to treat other people with more dignity and respect, regardless of colour, religion or ethnicity.
The Missile Defence proposition is too important to be decided behind closed doors. It should go to referendum, allowing all Canadians a democratic say in it.
"Democracy dies behind closed doors"...lets not allow it to happen.

Vera Gottlieb - British Columbia

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Vera Gottlieb

Wow. the level to which Canadians like to delude themselves seems to not have any bounds. Canada has little, if any, respect around the world, get over yourselves. American attempts to establish systems of governance that are representative of the will of the people is somehow 'disrespectful' to those people? - Canadians would prefer it if a dictator just killed them quietly? - that's some level of empathy for the oppressed!

Nuclear missiles are sought by every sort of fascist regime the world over, most recently when the Iranian 'parliament' re-approved their nuclear weapons program while shouting 'Death to America' - and apparently 52% of Canadians still think we shouldn't do anything to defend ourselves, how stupid can these people be? the ignorance is astounding.

Some of these Canadians think they are so superior to the US because Canadian media likes to make an example of some ignorant Americans, yet these same people know nothing about the rest of the world themselves, they only see as far as the United States and then think themselves 'worldly', Canadians should grow up and learn how to defend themselves instead of playing the recaltritant teenager role, it gets a bit stale.

Sure a NON,

There are lots of Canadians that know absoulutely nothing about the rest of the world. But here, at Vive, most of us know plenty about people like you and you're talking to the wrong crowd. You're bla bla bla is also very stale. Go away.

Sure a NON,

There are lots of Canadians that know absoulutely nothing about the rest of the world. But here, at Vive, most of us know plenty about people like you and you're talking to the wrong crowd. You're bla bla bla is also very stale. Go away.

You're absolutely right Anonymous, most of us don't have an American-centric faith based view of the world and take great pride in it.

Another blatant example of American arrogance! I'll chose Canada over the USA A-N-Y time - I lived there long enough to know.

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Vera Gottlieb

Yet another self-deluded American who refuses to investigate the crimes his country has committed in the middle east to suppress democracy and support cooperative dictators. Anyone who looks into the history of the USA in this region (and others) can come to no other conclusion that this is what they have done.

If you want a living example of your government's idea of protecting innocent people living under dictatorship go and do some research on Azerbaijan. This country has substantial oil reserves and is in a very militarily strategic position. It also has a dictator who is killing and torturing people opposed to him just as Saddam did. What has been your government's response to getting rid of this dictator and protecting innocents in that country? Nothing, that's what. The only thing that is keeping Azerbaijan from becoming another Iraq is that their dictator is cooperating with the US government's plans to have US corporations exploit their oil.

How's that for not knowing anything about the world beyond the United States bonehead. This type of information should be common knowledge to anyone who even makes a little bit of an attempt to inform themselves, as it is a story that can be found in any reputable newspaper (Washington Post to name one).

It seems to me that the only time we here in Canada need to defend ourselves from anyone is when the US pisses someone off. I challenge you to name even one country that has threatened to invade or attack us that you have defended us from (excluding of course anything coming from Al-Quaida because that is only as a result of our government's support of you). In reality, the only country that has ever attacked us has been the United States in the War of 1812 and it is only your country that is threatening our security at present. In truth, your country is the only country in all of the world that I have any fear of right now.

So the US should be 'Team America - World Police' and invade any country that doesn't meet your standards of democracy immediately?

While I agree that the world would be a better place if the United States were more powerful and willing to destroy dictators, especially the socialist ones like Castro and Kim Il-Sung, the reality is that it is very difficult to try and make the world a better place - perhaps you have heard about a place called Iraq and the difficulty they're having while trying to make the country safe for elections?

Who really believes that number? The article didn't even include the actual question(s) that people got asked. Maybe the poll was commissioned by CanWest, and worded in such a way as to get as many people supporting it as they could get? Maybe it was commissioned by the Council of Canadians & worded a different way? I don't know, the article didn't say. You got to be careful about this poll, I think.

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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va

What a load of tripe. Since when do polls indicate the correct course of action to take? If you took a poll on who wants to pay taxes, I bet the number would be close to 0%. If you then asked who would like medical care, schools, roads, police, etc. all kept to very high standards, I bet the number would be close to 100%. Polls mean nothing, and are only useful as a marketing tool for politicians and companies so they know how to adjust their message to get the correct response. A poll reflects opinion, but it is very rarely informed.

I have yet to read a single rational reason why Canada should not allow the US to use their fancy Missile defense system over Canadian soil, other than some rather pathetic attempts at chest beating and flag waving and some poorly thought out comments on national sovereignty, which are meaningless in this context. It looks to me that the issue is not at all about a missile defense system, but an anti-US position held by many. Again, the general public's inability to separate the two issues is once again an example of how meaningless such a poll is and why it should have no impact on Canadian defense policy.