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It looks like Canada has signed on to Bush's missile defense program. I won't repost the entire entry, as it contains too many references to Canadian politics and news which might not be interesting to Kossacks, but suffice it to say Canadians are right pissed.
Our new ambassador to the US was questioned before commons today, and strongly implied that we'd signed on. Then he went outside and talked to reporters and just outright said it:
Asked directly if Canada is already part of the program, McKenna responded: "We are. We're part of it now and the question is what more do we need?"
McKenna is a big time right winger and his appointment has really made some Canadians nervous. in the past months, it's actually been him and his predecessor who've made the most comments about BMD.
Canadians are hugely against BMD, with only 34% supporting Canadian involvement. Unfortunately, our Prime Minister is a weakling who was recently dubbed Mr. Dithers by the economist because of his cowardly behaviour during his first year in power.
Thankfully, there is still some hope here. Firstly, the Liberals are having a policy convention in two weeks and it's been known for ages that BMD would be a huge issue there. Hopefully, the party's grassroots can get Martin and his band of fools back in line.
Secondly, there is the issue of exactly what kind of support it is that we're giving. McKenna was pretty clear in saying that he wasn't sure what more Bush wanted, that we had already offered all the technical assistance we could. As NDP foreign affairs critic Alexa Mcdonough pointed out:
"But of course we know what else the Americans want is Canada to be the fig leaf -- Canada to give the aura of credibility and respectability to the U.S. decision to go ahead with this missile-defense madness."
At this point, there still might be some hope of stopping the government from offering that kind of support. If the grassroots shows their strength in two weeks then maybe we can get Martin back in line. Otherwise, it will be a dark day for our country as we start propping up the Bush regime and their failed policies.
[Update 2:45] - Just watched the most vicious commons question period I've ever seen. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were not in Commons today, so the Minister of Defense was left to answer the questions. He claimed that nothing is final yet, and that McKenna was referring to the NORAD Ammendment of last August which pledged Canada would help with 'detection' in Missile Defense. So far, this debate is largely being fueled by the Ambassadors, remember Paul Celluci claimed in early January that he was told that the issue would be decided within a few months and that Canada would sign on. Now his new Canadian counterpart has repeated the lunacy.