Nuclear Weapons
Tuesday March 12,
2002
Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg--Transcona, NDP): Mr.
Speaker, New Democrats are very concerned about the U.S. defense department
document called the nuclear posture review which threatens to end a consensus
about nuclear weapons as weapons of last resort, as weapons of deterrence, and
redefine nuclear weapons as part of an integrated war fighting strategy.
This policy breaks with the commitment made by the
U.S. in 2000 for an unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination
of its nuclear arsenals. Together with the Bush administration's rejection of
the ABM treaty and the earlier rejection of the comprehensive test ban treaty,
the United States appears determined to pass up the possibilities offered by the
end of the cold war for a world that is less threatened by nuclear war and
eventually for a nuclear weapons free world.
It would be ironic indeed if in pursuit of
legitimate safety and security goals occasioned by the September 11 act of
terrorism the world actually becomes a more dangerous place. The doomsday clock
has been moved up by two minutes and we are closer than we have been for some
time to the ultimate act of terrorism which is the use of nuclear weapons.
The NDP urges the Prime Minister to keep such a
perspective in mind when he goes to Washington later this week.
