Public Hearings On BMD
Posted on Tuesday, October 19 at 21:41 by whelan costen
Ms. Alexa McDonough (Halifax, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is reported that the U.K. has reached a deal with George Bush to place interceptor missiles on British soil.
It is time the government stopped pretending that participation in BMD will cost us nothing and will not involve missiles on Canadian soil. Before any decision is made to participate in Bush's missile madness, will the government assure Canadians that they will have their say through cross-country hearings and that no vote will take place in Parliament until after those public hearings have been held?
Hon. Pierre Pettigrew (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the committee will decide what it decides to do in terms of the hearings. I will not begin to run the committees of Parliament and it will be up to the committee to decide. We have committed to a discussion in this Parliament. We are committed now to a vote in this Parliament, so there will be an opportunity to do this.
We have a responsibility as a government to pursue the dialogue with the Americans. We are talking here about the security of our continent. We are not going to disengage from this most important dialogue on the fundamental issue of the defence of North America.
What you could do:
Write the Foreign Affairs Committee members, urging them to support public hearings on BMD!
Committee members:
Bernard Patry, Chair: Patry.B@parl.gc.ca
Francine Lalonde, Vice Chair: Lalonde.F@parl.gc.ca
Kevin Sorenson, Vice Chair: Sorenson.K@parl.gc.ca
Maurizio Bevilacqua: Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca
Stockwell Day: Day.S@parl.gc.ca
Lawrence MacAulay: MacAulay.L@parl.gc.ca
Dan McTeague: McTeague.D@parl.gc.ca
Ted Menzies: Menzies.T@parl.gc.ca
Pierre A. Paquette: Paquette.P@parl.gc.ca
Beth Phinney: Phinney.B@parl.gc.ca
Belinda Stronach: Stronach.B@parl.gc.ca
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Canada must take its defences seriously - wailing at the Americans does nothing to protect Canada.
Of course Canadians want a system that:
-doesn't work (it's like shooting a flying bullet out of the air based on where the muzzle flash came from)
-will encourage attacks on our soil
-has already triggered a new arms race
-goes against the principles of disarmement
-couldn't stop a terrorist threat even if the system did work
-cannot distinguish a missile from a decoy
-will allow the US military an increased presence in Canada
-strangely resembles the system that helped trigger the economic collapse of the Soviet Union
Need I say more?
KY
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Kory Yamashita
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
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gina
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RickW
I think all these guys who are so eager for war, ought to be sent to a room somewhere to fight it out, give them all the weapons they want but enclose them, so the only victims will be each other. Wonder what the outcome of that would be...I can't go I hate the sight of blood, bahh.
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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?
China is not a major military power regardless of the fact that they employ many people in the Peoples Liberation Army(oxymoron alert!), having nuclear missiles however makes them a force to be reckoned with. Same with Pakistan, Iran, India, North Korea and even Brazil wants in on the nuclear missile bandwagon.
While diplomats blather on and on and say they are making progress towards peace, all these countries pursue greater missile capability.
Many of the regimes and groups pursuing nuclear technology and missiles have no qualms whatsoever about killing and torturing their own people, to think they wouldn't use a weakness in the West's defences to their advantage is truly naive.
If so, the defense system would seem geared more towards a threat involving dozens of missiles delivering hundreds of warheads.
If this is the case, how many nations are capable of delivering hundreds of warheads in our direction? And given current technology, would it not be possible to identify this type of theat during its construction and counter it?
I don't know the answers to the above.
Regardless, under the MAD doctrine it was believed no nation would use nuclear weapons on another because to do so would assure its own destruction.
A nation that builds an anti-missile defense system to counter a missile threat, while also maintaining the ability to deliver offensive missiles, is likely to be viewed as a threat by other nations. Given that the defense system would in theory have some sort of upper limit as to the number of missile threats it could handle, other nations would would develop methods of determining and exceeding that limitation, e.g., throw thousands of missiles with every 10th missile, or 50th, etc. being real and the rest dummies.
The strong defense - stronger offense - stronger defense process has gone on through history, with offense though perhaps thwarted for a time eventually coming out the winner.
I think the concern of many is that the proposed system would be more likely to exacerbate problems than to offer any long-term guarantee of safety and that this being the case the expenditure would be a waste of funds better spent elsewhere.
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"When we are in the middle of the paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm" (Adam Smith).
pursuing nuclear technology and missiles have no
qualms whatsoever about killing and torturing their own
people, to think they wouldn't use a weakness in the
West's defences to their advantage is truly naive."
Sing with me anon:
I see trees of green........ red roses too
I watch 'em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....warm sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
They're really sayin'......I love you.
I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world