peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (12/01/83)
I don't think there is a consensus, at least among Canadian political
parties, on the question of nuclear arms.
The Progressive Conservatives (official opposition) appear to be strongly
pro-Reagan and anti-Soviet, though they are hard to pin down sometime.
For what it's worth, they lead in the polls, but most likely due to
dissatisfaction with the government, over a number of issues, mainly
economic, and not over foreign policy.
The New Democratic Party (3rd party) denounces both U.S. and U.S.S.R.
arms policies, quites strongly. They are, for example, the only party
against testing of the U.S. cruise missile in Alberta and Saskatchewan
(the 2nd and 3rd prov's, going from West to East), supposed to start
early in '84.
The Liberal party (government, under Prime Minister P. E. Trudeau)
takes a middle ground, very concerned, maybe even upset, over all
the anti-Soviet rhetoric from Washington, but willing to test the
cruise as part of its NATO committment.
There are no ICBM's in Canada, though Litton Systems in a suburb of
Toronto manufactures cruise missile guidance systems, and has been
the target of many demonstrations (and one bombing). We take it for granted
that Canada would be destroyed in a nuclear war. I personally would like to
be vapourized as soon as possible, one reason for living in downtown Toronto.
I've saved the most important nuclear-arms-related activity in Canada
for the last: Pierre Trudeau's nuclear peace plan. Using his good
offices and international reputation (he is the senior NATO leader)
he has visited a number of European leaders, incl. those of Britain
and Germany, pleaded his case to the Commonwealth, and recently
visited Peking, all with the aim of enlisting support for a number of
proposals:
- global ban on space-based weapons
- 5 power disarmament conference (US, USSR, France, UK, China)
- push for more countries to sign the non-proliferation agreement
- determined effort to reduce the amount of shrill rhetoric between
the superpowers and open more channels of communication
Response has been generally favourable, except possibly from the US
(conflicting signals have been received from Washington), though there
have been no concrete moves of support. The effort enjoys all-party
support in Canada, and, I believe, widespread public support.
There is an active and apparently quite well-coordinated peace
movement in Canada, with the opposition to testing of the cruise being
one of the main rallying points.
peter rowley, University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
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