This recommendation was broadly accepted by the government, which had in fact already begun to undertake such efforts, working to build support among NATO members for a New Agenda Coalition-sponsored United Nations resolution during the fall of 1998 and spearheading, along with Germany, efforts within NATO to build support for revisions in nuclear policy. The Council in Permanent Session will propose a process to Ministers in December for considering such options. However, NATO officials denied in a recent meeting with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War that NATO's nuclear weapons policies would form part of the promised review of arms control and related measures. Clearly, high-level government attention will be required to prevent NATO officials from sweeping the issue under the carpet. This position is perhaps justifiable if its purpose is to avoid a public break that might undermine Canada's ability to work for changes in the nuclear policies of NATO as a whole, but it cannot be seen as a position that is sustainable over the long term.
Conclusions There is much to applaud in the government's policy statement.
The new policy makes it clear that the Canadian government is not yet willing to abandon the NATO nuclear ship, but it does confirm that the government has begun to develop a commendable interest in tugging the derelict vessel closer to shore. The government can be reasonably sure that achievement of its more limited goals is not impossible, and it can be reasonably sure that by bending its efforts towards those ends it will make their achievement more likely. But these factors also apply to the abolition of nuclear weapons. There is no reason to believe that the abolition of nuclear weapons is impossible. And it is only through the efforts of all countries, including Canada, that we can hope to succeed in making nuclear abolition a reality.