President George W. Bush promises to forge ahead with missile defence and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is one of its strongest boosters. Now they are pressing U.S. allies such as Canada to get in step. American officials pitched the idea to Foreign Minister John Manley last month and Defence Minister Art Eggleton this week. It may come up when Prime Minister Jean Chr tien visits Mr. Bush in Washington on Monday. Canada should resist this pressure.
Missile defence poses a direct threat to Canadian security.
If the Americans break the taboo on missile defences by building their shield, Russia and China are likely to react by building better offences and aiming them at North America, undoing years of progress on arms control and possibly igniting a new arms race. Yet so far Canada has uttered barely a word of protest. Fearful of getting caught out if Washington bulls ahead with the plan, our officials are refusing to speak openly about this country's justifiable concerns about missile defence. Ottawa needs to be much more forceful.