Thu, Feb 24, 2005
US: "We Will Deploy"
Canada Thursday formally
pulled out of the US Missile Shield program, with Prime Minister
Paul Martin insisting his country will maintain positive control
over its airspace.
“After careful consideration of the issue, we have decided
that Canada will not participate in the US ballistic missile
defence system,” Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew
said in the House of Commons Thursday.
The decision from Ottawa seemed to put an instant strain on
cross-border relations.
“We will deploy. We will defend North America,” said
US ambassador Paul Cellucci. “We simply cannot understand why
Canada would in effect give up its sovereignty -– its seat at
the table -– to decide what to do about a missile that might
be coming towards Canada.” He was quoted by the Canadian
Press.
From Washington's point
of view, the sudden announcement was seen as a confusing signal,
coming just days after Canada's newly-appointed ambassador to the
US indicated his country was already participating in the Missile
Shield program. He indicated the NORAD agreement between the two
countries had been amended in such a way that Canada was already on
board with the program. Frank McKenna's remarks came at almost the
same time Prime Minister Martin's office made a call to Washington,
announcing his decision not to participate in the anti-missile
effort.
Then, twice this week, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham
insisted nothing had changed and no decision had been made.
“The official Canadian position was conveyed by Foreign
Minister Pettigrew to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at our
meetings in Brussels,” Martin told reporters, as quoted by
CP. “Since then, I have discussed it with ambassador
Cellucci, Mr. Graham has discussed it with [Deputy Defence
Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz in the United States and I would expect
to be discussing it again, with President Bush, hopefully today or
in the very near future.”
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