Free Republic

This comes as no surprise, but our do-nothing neighbors to the North have declined participation in the missile defense shield. Apparently, the support just isn't there within the House to "risk" the Liberals losing future elections over. The fact that this issue is so charged that Canadians would vote them out of office if they supported it should give us all a little into the mindset of our "allies." I don't know how else to read it other than Canadians prefering to bind our hands when it comes to defense. Does the majority of Canada prefer to see more destruction...

Martin will reject missile defence: reportCBC News February 22, 2005 OTTAWA - Prime Minister Paul Martin will reject Canadian participation in the full U.S. missile defence program, CBC News has learned. Martin plans to announce in the House of Commons as early as Thursday that the country will not partake fully in the controversial program, the CBC's French-language network reported Tuesday. The news comes hours after Canada's next ambassador to the United States, Frank McKenna, set off a storm by saying Canada is already taking part in the program because it has agreed Norad can monitor the skies for incoming...

OTTAWA (CP) - To hundreds of thousands of influential readers around the world, Canada's prime minister will now be known as an indecisive leader dubbed "Mr. Dithers." The Economist magazine pronounced its dismay with Paul Martin's first 14 months in office under an article headlined, 'Mr. Dithers' and his Distracting Fiscal Cafeteria. The prestigious British-based magazine said Martin has been a pale shadow of the deficit-slaying finance minister long respected by the economic community. "Mr. Martin, a successful finance minister for almost a decade until 2002, cannot quite shake off the impression that Canada's top job is too big for...

"Three amigos" NAFTA summit planned: Canada PM Thu Jan 27, 1:27 PM ET Canada - AFP OTTAWA, Jan 27 (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said that US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and Mexico's President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) had agreed to join him in a summit to tinker with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Martin has pressed Bush especially to act to strengthen NAFTA's dispute settlement mechanism, irked by the US response to rulings on issues such as Canada's softwood lumber exports to the United States. "There are gaps in NAFTA...