Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | C | Canada and the World Backgrounder

Marching together: after many years of keeping a distance between Canadian and U.S. defence relations, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is moving towards closer cooperation.

Article Excerpt
Paul Cellucci was the U.S. Ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2005. Ambassadors are not supposed to ruffle the feathers of their host nation. But, Mr. Cellucci appears not to have read that part of the diplomat's training manual. He was often blunt and undiplomatic.

One of his favourite topics was criticism of Canada for its meager defence spending. Canadians got very hot under the collar about being told they should spend more on their armed forces; perhaps because there was more than a grain of truth in what Mr. Cellucci was saying?

Whether because of the ambassador's goading or not, Canada did increase its defence spending. The government of Prime Minister Paul Martin put another $13 billion into the armed forces' bank account in the 2005 budget. Mr. Cellucci claimed partial credit for the increase. That's what he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail as he was leaving his ambassadorial job. He added that Washington was surprised when Prime Minister Paul Martin declined to take part in the National Missile Defence (NMD) program. This was a hot button issue in 2005 and continues to be today.

Back in 1983, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan was told that a young scientist called Peter Hagelstein had come up with a bright idea. Mr. Hagelstein had designed a nuclear x-ray laser that was supposed to be able to destroy weapons aboard missiles while they were still in space. Mr. Reagan loved the idea and challenged the scientific community to take it from theory to practice.

What was officially known as the Strategic Defence Initiative (and popularly known as Star Wars) swallowed up billions of dollars and failed. The program was scaled back until George W. Bush moved into the White House in 2001. He ordered a speeding up of what was now called the National Missile Defence. The whole x-ray laser thing had been shelved and the system was now based on one missile destroying another missile in flight. Mr. Bush invited Canada to take a role in the development and operation of the system. Ottawa stalled on making a decision.

In February 2005, Canada told the American government it would not...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!