NORAD continued indefinitely and expanded
Good news that this is over with and, with any luck, should not be terribly controversial. After all the terms were basically negotiated under the Liberals. But trust the Toronto Star to search for sinister angles.
Stephen Harper's government has quietly committed Canada to "indefinite" participation in NORAD and agreed to give the military alliance new responsibilities to watch for a terror attack by sea.
Fresh off his softwood lumber truce, Harper's government yesterday gave another boost to Canada-U.S. relations when it signed off on the renewal of the landmark North American Aerospace Defence Command treaty.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador in Canada, signed the new pact at a "ceremony in Ottawa," according to Janelle Hironimus, a spokesperson with the U.S. State Department.
Yet in Ottawa, officials with the Harper government tried to keep word of the renewal under wraps...
With Canadian officials saying nothing, it was left to U.S. officials to lay out the details of the renewal.
"The new agreement expands NORAD's mission by adding maritime warning to NORAD's aerospace defence mission," Hironimus said.
This will be a first for the joint Canada-United States defence agency, which in the past has been responsible only for guarding the skies over North America.
The new responsibility involves watching the coasts for suspicious vessels that could be used for a terror attack, a serious threat that has been a concern to both countries. But the vigilance also includes watching for drug traffickers and human smugglers too.
Unlike the current agreement, which will expire on May 12, this new deal will run indefinitely, "acknowledging the mature nature of the U.S.-Canadian defence partnership," Hironimus said...
While the Conservatives are sure to trumpet the deal as yet further proof of improving relations with the U.S., negotiations for the renewal were "largely completed" before they took office in February, Hironimus said...
In Canada, opposition politicians will get their own briefing on Monday in advance of a debate on the new pact on Wednesday.
And the Conservative government has relented and will allow a vote on the agreement on Thursday, Parliament Hill sources say...
Clearly the Star got a scoop here and no other major papers that I can find have run the story.
Yesterday the Star, as is its wont, ran a piece of paranoid fantasy, by one of the usual academic suspects, about the US essentially taking over Canadian national security. One hopes the reality of the NORAD renewal will quell such nonsense--at least amongst those who care for facts.
Continental integration by stealth
As Ottawa prepares to renew NORAD agreement, a bi-national panel suggests nothing less than the complete integration of Canada's military, security and foreign policy into the decision-making and operating systems of the U.S., writes Michael Byers...
Read on, if you have the stomach for it.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
Stephen Harper's government has quietly committed Canada to "indefinite" participation in NORAD and agreed to give the military alliance new responsibilities to watch for a terror attack by sea.
Fresh off his softwood lumber truce, Harper's government yesterday gave another boost to Canada-U.S. relations when it signed off on the renewal of the landmark North American Aerospace Defence Command treaty.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador in Canada, signed the new pact at a "ceremony in Ottawa," according to Janelle Hironimus, a spokesperson with the U.S. State Department.
Yet in Ottawa, officials with the Harper government tried to keep word of the renewal under wraps...
With Canadian officials saying nothing, it was left to U.S. officials to lay out the details of the renewal.
"The new agreement expands NORAD's mission by adding maritime warning to NORAD's aerospace defence mission," Hironimus said.
This will be a first for the joint Canada-United States defence agency, which in the past has been responsible only for guarding the skies over North America.
The new responsibility involves watching the coasts for suspicious vessels that could be used for a terror attack, a serious threat that has been a concern to both countries. But the vigilance also includes watching for drug traffickers and human smugglers too.
Unlike the current agreement, which will expire on May 12, this new deal will run indefinitely, "acknowledging the mature nature of the U.S.-Canadian defence partnership," Hironimus said...
While the Conservatives are sure to trumpet the deal as yet further proof of improving relations with the U.S., negotiations for the renewal were "largely completed" before they took office in February, Hironimus said...
In Canada, opposition politicians will get their own briefing on Monday in advance of a debate on the new pact on Wednesday.
And the Conservative government has relented and will allow a vote on the agreement on Thursday, Parliament Hill sources say...
Clearly the Star got a scoop here and no other major papers that I can find have run the story.
Yesterday the Star, as is its wont, ran a piece of paranoid fantasy, by one of the usual academic suspects, about the US essentially taking over Canadian national security. One hopes the reality of the NORAD renewal will quell such nonsense--at least amongst those who care for facts.
Continental integration by stealth
As Ottawa prepares to renew NORAD agreement, a bi-national panel suggests nothing less than the complete integration of Canada's military, security and foreign policy into the decision-making and operating systems of the U.S., writes Michael Byers...
Read on, if you have the stomach for it.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 10:23 a.m.
1 Comments:
"And the Conservative government has relented and will allow a vote on the agreement on Thursday, Parliament Hill sources say..." ??
The story reads very different from Canwest
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