pkern@utcs.UUCP (Paul Kern) (01/13/85)
Just recently a leaked Pentagon document revealed plans to place American nuclear devices on Canadian bases during times of extreme international crisis.(Not many, 32, I think) The intended bases were CFB Comox on Vancouver Island and another base in Nova Scotia. The plan seemed to be that Canadian Coastguard(?) planes, like the Aurora, would deliver some of the devices to their targets (ie. enemy submarines lurking off the two coasts). Subsequent revelations included the placing of long-range B-52 bombers on bases around the country. They would be carrying nuclear weapons. I suppose the idea was to place them closer to the target. While I am a rookie politics spectator a long held belief was that Canada was always, and would remain, free of nuclear weapons (except for the ones raining around us during a nuclear exchange). This also seemed to be another example of Canada being taken for granted as the Minister of Defense, Robert Coates, had not heard of this plan (or would not admit that he had). Any comments from the political-minded net users ? Paul Kern ..!utcs!pkern
shindman@utcs.UUCP (Paul Shindman) (01/14/85)
Canada had nuclear weapons stationed on canuck soil up the end of the sixties or early seventies. There were one or more squadrons of the old BOMARC anti-aircraft missiles stationed at North Bay(?) and maybe one or two other sites. The missiles were nuclear tipped, but were removed by the Pearson or Trudeau administrations as a last step to leave Canada nuclear-weapons free. Well, I guess, kind of free. Well, I guess, like, it depends on your point of view.... Paul Shindman
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (01/15/85)
> While I am a rookie politics spectator a long held belief was that Canada >was always, and would remain, free of nuclear weapons (except for the >ones raining around us during a nuclear exchange). It's only relatively recently that nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Canada, if I remember rightly. Who remembers the Bomarcs? -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt
jbtubman@water.UUCP (Jim Tubman) (01/15/85)
> > > While I am a rookie politics spectator a long held belief was that Canada > >was always, and would remain, free of nuclear weapons (except for the > >ones raining around us during a nuclear exchange). > > It's only relatively recently that nuclear weapons were withdrawn > from Canada, if I remember rightly. Who remembers the Bomarcs? > -- > Martin Taylor As far as I know, the last nuclear weapons in Canada were the Genie missiles on the CF-101 Voodoo fighters. The Genie was an unguided air defence missile -- I guess the theory was that with a nuclear warhead, all you had to do was point the missile in the general direction of the target and let it go. They were retired along with the Voodoos themselves when the new CF-18 was brought into service; some mention of this was made in the media when the changeover occurred. The CF-105 Starfighters had a nuclear strike role, but the government changed their mission to ground attack (!). The Canadian forces in Europe also had a nuclear artillery rocket, the "Honest John". I don't know when it went out of service. As Canada is undoubtedly targetted by the USSR in the event of a nuclear war, I don't think that having nuclear weapons on our soil makes any difference one way or the other. Any comments? Jim Tubman University of Waterloo ...watmath!water!jbtubman
robinson@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jim Robinson) (01/16/85)
In article <334@utcs.UUCP> pkern@utcs.UUCP writes: >This also seemed to be another example of Canada being taken for >granted as the Minister of Defense, Robert Coates, had not heard of this >plan (or would not admit that he had). That Canada should be taken for granted in this manner is unfortunate but not unexpected. For years this country has paid only token attention to its armed forces, secure in the knowledge that no other country would dare do battle with us because of the presence of our neighbour to the South who carries a mighty big stick. This has resulted in a loss of Canada's sovereignty as one can hardly bite the hand that feeds, or in this case protects, one. An argument can be made that we don't need a military. Fine. In that case let's withdraw from NATO and NORAD, disband the armed forces, concentrate on the Coast Guard, and hope that nobody ever comes looking for a fight. ( We could also forget about getting so much as the time of day from the US, at least for the short term ) On the other hand, if we are going to have a military then it behoves us to do it properly. If we had our own credible defence then it would be much easier for us to protest those actions by the US which take us for granted. We could rightly claim to be partners with the US working towards a common goal and expect/demand to be treated as such, under threat of going it alone if necessary. As it is now, we're just kinda along for the ride. My own opinion is that a sizable sovereign nation, such as Canada, should have a credible defence. Even the *neutral* Swiss who haven't been at war for untold years have this. Looking back to WW2 it can be noted that yesterday's enemy is today's friend. I don't think that it is too far fetched to think that today's friend may be tomorrow's enemy. J.B. Robinson
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (01/17/85)
I may be wrong about this, but my impression is that there have long
been agreements with the US about use of Canadian bases for nuclear
forces in *wartime*. Since the departure of the Bomarcs and the Genie
missiles that armed the Voodoos, we haven't actually had any nuclear
weapons in our "own" inventory. ("Own" in quotes because the nuclear
weapons in question were always under US control anyway.) Peacetime
deployment is a different question, though, and I'm a bit surprised to
hear serious plans for that. However, I believe people who moan about
the US "taking us for granted" are barking up the wrong tree; this
sort of thing is normally done only with the host country's approval.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry