Posted on 02/24/2005 6:21:02 PM PST by quidnunc
Ottawa – Canada's announcement that it won't join the U.S. missile shield provoked an immediate warning that it has relinquished sovereignty over its airspace.
From now on, the U.S. government will control any decision to fire at incoming missiles over Canadian territory, declared the top U.S. envoy to Canada.
"We will deploy. We will defend North America," said Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.
"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."
The response came just moments after Prime Minister Paul Martin ended months of ambiguity Thursday by announcing that he would not sign on to the controversial missile-defence program.
The warning was no slip of the tongue: Cellucci repeated several times that Canada's decision had in effect handed over some of its sovereignty to the United States.
"I personally don't think it's in Canada's sovereign interest to be outside of the room when a decision is made about a missile that might be incoming towards Canada."
Cellucci said he understood the political "challenge" that made it difficult for Martin's minority government to accept missile defence — and agreed it was Canada's right to make a decision.
The formal announcement completed a lengthy retreat for Martin, who expressed support for the project last year in his early days in office, then qualified his support, and finally fell almost silent on the issue.
Still, even the final announcement was not without confusion.
Martin said he would expect to be consulted on what to do about any missile passing over Canada.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
Causing over $50.00 worth of damage.
"All those folks that were kicking sand in the face of
bill clinton at the beach, are getting a hard lesson
from the new teacher on the block."
And when the bill comes due they will be reminded that good schools are expensive.
"In for a penny, in for a pound.."
You're not the only one, my FRiend.
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
All I can say is that the Conservatives have lost whatever political coin they thought they could get from the gov't backing out because they didn't raise any noise about it before the decision was made, if they start trying to knock the government for backing out they are basicly hypocrates.
Consolation prize, big rocks can "come on down",,,long as they're inbound to Canada! See? We're not so hard to get along with.
LOL! That was funny.
Canada changes governments fairly regularly (less that the US but regular enough.)
Don't worry, another will come along that will sign on to the Missile Defence system as well as put more resources into the military along the lines of filling holes that the US needs.
LOL!!
Let me guess. The Canadians will sputter and stage huge riots as result of our imperial arrogance.
I like this guy. If Canada doesn't want to defend itself, isn't our problem. We're going to defend ourselves even if it involves hitting missiles over the sky above them. If the wreckage from the sky causes a prblem, well, they were the ones that refused to prevent the missile from hitting their skyline in the first place.
Oh, and Martin? We are NOT close allies and friends. Australia would be our closest friend.
I can't wait until the technology is there to hit the missiles with a laser shortly after it launches, exploding over the area it was fired from.
And THIS is supposedly a friendly trading partner? I think we ought to pull the plug on all things Canadian. No country that is stupid enough to vote for a moron like Martin should be consulted about anything pertaining to US security.
Canada hey?...do I smell a cowardly french affinity for letting someone else fight my battles???
These guys are like most of the European nations. They KNOW that the US will defend them no matter what. And pay for it all, too.
This is a smart move by Canada. They know they will still get defended as the US has no alternative but to defend North America. Yet they will not have to put up a single dime of their own treasury to get the benefits. Moochers on our south and north.
And to add, with the US paying for IT, they can continue to buy votes by spending on their extravagent welfare states. But what happens if something bad happens to the US? If we go down then I would suggest, " Put your head between your legs (assume full brace position) and kiss it goodbye baby.
Well, I guess we can't rely on Canada to help defend North America. Oh well, at least we still have Mexico! They'll never turn their backs on us!
Outstanding move by the bush admin! This fools to the north need lessons in responsibility.
this=these
Actually, this is pretty crafty. Canada has now outsourced its defense to the US without paying us a cent.
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