Liberals gear up for missile defence debate
Canadian Press
Fredericton â †Reports of U.S. arm-twisting over the missile-defence project have ignited passions within a Liberal government gearing up for a debate on whether Canada should join.
One Liberal opposed to the plan summed up the feelings of like-minded MPs in the Liberal caucus, which is gathering this week for its annual winter retreat amid reports U.S. President George W. Bush scolded Prime Minister Paul Martin for his slowness in signing on.
"They should mind their own damned business," said an Ontario MP, who asked not to be identified.
The MP said he was especially irked by Bush's intervention in a domestic debate because most observers feel Canadian backing is already a fait accompli.
"We're going to be moving in that direction anyway," he said.
"Besides, if they (Americans) ever need to use our airspace to defend themselves â †whether we join or not â †do you think they will hesitate?"
A Liberal proponent of missile defence agreed it doesn't make much of a difference whether Canada gives its blessing to the project, which will install missile interceptors in Alaska and California.
The U.S. got all it needed last summer, he said, when both countries amended NORAD and placed the cross-border agency in charge of monitoring the missile system.
"Missile defence was a done deal with the NORAD amendment," said the Quebec MP. "Just its opponents and the media are still making it an issue."
Those opponents are expected to raise their objections during the party's three-day meeting in Fredericton, which begins Tuesday.
Another apparent fait accompli â †same-sex marriage â †will also come under fire from opponents within the Liberal caucus.
As the government plans to move swiftly with legislation permitting gay and lesbian weddings, dissidents will use the caucus retreat as a last-ditch effort to have Martin back down.
They hope the prime minister will allow all MPs â †including his cabinet â †a free vote on the issue.
Martin has repeatedly said he expects his ministers to toe the government line. Last week he added he would rather call a snap election than use the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to halt gay marriage.
The missile-defence debate was stoked over the weekend when the Washington Post newspaper said Bush chided Martin over the issue behind closed doors during a recent meeting in Ottawa.
The newspaper quoted an unidentified Canadian official who was in the room as saying Bush waved off attempts to explain how contentious the issue is for Martin's minority government.
"(Bush) leaned across the table and said: 'I'm not taking this position, but some future president is going to say, Why are we paying to defend Canada?'," the official was quoted as saying.
"Most of our side was trying to explain the politics, how it was difficult to do," he said.
But Bush "waved his hands and remarked: 'I don't understand this. Are you saying that if you got up and said this is necessary for the defence of Canada, it wouldn't be accepted?'-"
In addition to the hot-button issues, Liberals will spend this week pressing the government with their own spending priorities for the coming federal budget.
They also vote Wednesday to select a resolution the caucus team will submit for debate at the party's March policy convention. But the Liberal caucus chair conceded those items may take a back seat to more pressing issues.
"Marriage, missiles and mad cow," said New Brunswick MP Andy Savoy. "It's the triple-m meeting."
