By Colin Nickerson in Montreal December 11 2002
A pact signed by Canada and the United States may allow US armed forces to be deployed on Canadian soil in the event of a terrorist attack or big emergency.
For the first time Ottawa has agreed in principle that US troops could enter Canadian territory to help police and firefighters in an emergency.
The plan agreed on Monday is controversial in a country sensitive to any sacrifice of sovereignty to its superpower neighbour, but the Defence Minister, John McCallum, said in Ottawa that Canada had little choice but to work closely with the US.
The pact "puts us in a position to work with the United States on plans to defend North America - plans the United States would otherwise be developing without us", he said.
A recent report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Canadian cities were likely to become prime targets for Islamic terrorists if the US attacked Iraq.
Many Canadians are unsympathetic to a US campaign against Iraq. In a poll published at the weekend more than a third of respondents said they regarded President George Bush as a greater threat to world peace than Saddam Hussein.
In the poll, by Ekos Research, 41 per cent said they did not want their country to lend support to the US in a Middle East war, and 65 per cent wanted the US to stop badgering Canada to beef up its military.
The US has repeatedly urged Canada to increase military spending, but the Liberal Party Government of the Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, has slashed the budget and size of the armed forces over the past seven years.
As a result of spending cuts, army units operate at half strength, naval ships are routinely forced to remain in port for want of qualified crew or because of mechanical breakdowns, and military helicopters date to the 1960s and are regarded as unsafe.
Greenland's main party has formed a home-rule government with Inuit nationalists that could threaten US plans to include the world's largest island in its missile defence strategy.
The Social Democratic Siumut party and the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit have formed a coalition seeking greater independence from Denmark.
The US plans to upgrade radar at a Greenland military base as part of Mr Bush's missile defence plans. The Inuit Ataqatigiit strongly opposes the plan.
The Boston Globe and agencies
<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/10/1039379835522.html> -- Yoshie
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