What is Canadas Position on Star Wars and NORAD?
• The Canadian government has declined any official support of Star Wars, while permitting Canadian organizations to participate with the usual facilitation of the government. (See Bacher’s article, this issue.) This acquiescent involvement is despite the strong support that the government also proclaims for the U.S.–USSR Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. That Treaty prohibits Star Wars-type systems. • The House of Commons’s Standing Committee on External Affairs and National Defence has been examining the question of future defence relations with the United States in North America, in preparation for the renewal of the NORAD agreement this spring. There seems to be no indication that either the committee or the government intends to act to impede the integration of NORAD and Star Wars. In fact, by participating in the SDA 2000 study, the government is actually planning that integration, and strongly implying its acceptance of it. • The government also refuses to reinstate the so-called
