Time for Canada to join U.S. ballistic missile defence: Dallaire
Retired general and senator Romeo Dallaire says Canadians can’t just assume the U.S. will shoot down a missile heading towards Canada, and that it is time for this country to finally embrace continental missile defence.
“Canada should join the ballistic missile defence program,” Dallaire said in an interview Thursday.
“We currently cannot put a hand on our heart and say that it will be used to help us should something happen.”
His comments come amid growing concerns that Canada could be caught in the middle of a conflict between the U.S. and North Korea, which has been showing off its growing nuclear and missile arsenal.
The U.S. invited Canada to join its continental missileshield system more than a decade ago, but then-prime minister Paul Martin opted against it in 2005 following an extremely divisive national debate.
Since then, Canada has sat on the sidelines as the U.S. has spent more than $100 billion building a series of land- and sea-based interceptors that could stop the type of limited attack North Korea might launch.
Ballistic missile defence has also been adopted by NATO allies in Europe and those in the Asia-pacific region such as Australia and South Korea, leaving Canada as an outlier.
That doesn’t mean Canada wouldn’t see a ballistic missile attack coming.