Military not talking to U.S. about BMD: Vance

OTTAWA While the Canadian military is preparing to work with the U.S. on upgrading North America’s aging defences, Canada’s top general says there have been absolutely no talks about joining its ballistic-missile shield program.

Chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance’s comments come amid swirling questions over Canada’s potential involvement in ballisticmissile defence, particularly given rampant concerns about North Korea.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan appeared to leave the door open to participating in the controversial program in October, but the government has otherwise remained largely ambiguous when asked about missile defence.

The opposition parties, meanwhile, are sharply divided, with the Conservatives saying Canada should start immediate talks with the U.S. while the NDP has strongly opposed any Canadian participation.

Vance told The Canadian Press that Canadian military officials are preparing for what are expected to be in-depth talks with the U.S. about upgrading the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or Norad.

Those discussions are expected to focus on what new and emerging threats the joint U.S.Canadian system — currently used to spot potential enemy airplanes, missiles and ships — should be able to guard against.

“What I am happy about is we’re going to take a holistic view of the military defence of the continent over the next 20 to 50 years,” Vance said in an interview Thursday.