Halifax Peace Coalition Questions for Candidates

MISSILE DEFENCE/SPACE

1. Missile defence lobbyists continue to urge the government to re-open talks with the United States to join their flawed, expensive and dangerous system.

   Q. If elected, will you ensure that Canada does not participate in the U.S. ballistic missile defence system and that Canada will show leadership toward a Space Preservation Treaty as we did on the Ottawa Landmines Convention?

PEACEKEEPING

2. In 1992-93, the government spent a little more than $9 of every $10 earmarked for overseas missions on UN operations. Today that spending level for UN missions has dropped to 31 cents out of every $10, and Canada is increasingly taking part in ad hoc U.S. or NATO-led operations.

   Q. If elected, will your party commit to reducing or eliminating our role in U.S. and NATO-commanded missions such as Afghanistan and return Canada to our former position as a supporter of the United Nations.

DEFENCE SPENDING

3. Global military spending has grown to more than one trillion dollars per year, and half of that is being spent by the United States alone. Like the U.S., Canada is increasing its military spending and we are already the fourteenth highest in the world, seventh highest in NATO. This spending is being used to make our military more compatible with U.S. military forces - not UN peacekeeping.

   Q. If elected, will your party redirect planned military spending increases to support UN peacekeeping and other important security measures, such as improved health care, environmental protection and foreign aid? Will your party freeze defence spending in order to have a public debate on defence spending?

ARMS CONTROL AND PENSION INVESTING

4. The international arms industry, like military spending, is growing rapidly. Canadian corporations are profiting from the arms race, making our country the sixth highest exporter of arms in the world in 2004, surpassing even China.

   Q. If elected, will your party tighten Canada's arms export controls, end public subsidies to corporations for weapons production, and ensure that public dollars, such as Canada Pension Plan funds, are not invested with arms producers?

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

5. In October 2005, Canada was about to introduce an important proposal at the United Nations, along with six other nations, to start new negotiations aimed at reducing nuclear weapons and preventing the weaponization of space. But when the Bush administration signalled its disfavour, Canada withdrew its support, sabotaging the entire proposal.

   Q. If elected, will you work to ensure that Canada leads the way for nuclear disarmament and the prevention of an arms race in space, starting by reintroducing the proposal for new UN disarmament talks in 2006?

JTF2

6. The Joint Task Force 2 is a highly secretive, combative unit of the Canadian Armed Forces with no public oversight. JTF2 personnel were seen securing the airport in Haiti on February 29, 2004 to force democratically elected Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile and were seen turning over Afghan detainees to the U.S. military in Afghanistan raising concerns of torture.

Q. If elected, will your party support public debate and scrutiny of JTF2 operations, a withdraw of JTF2  from Afghanistan and  consider disbanding JTF2?

HAITI

7. In 2004, Canada assisted the U.S. in removing the democratically elected leader from Haiti. Since then, conditions have deteriorated to the point where it's doubtful that fair elections can be held. A big step forward would be the release from prison of presidential candidate, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who has been imprisoned since 2005.

Q. If elected, are you willing to join over 40 American members of congress, 8 Irish parliamentarians, multiple Canadian candidates and Amnesty International in calling for the immediate release of Father Jean-Juste, including subsequent health treatment? Are you willing to support the call for all political prisoners being held without charge in Haiti, believed to be as many as 1 000 in total, to be released?

SECURITY CERTIFICATES

8. Due to the introduction of security certificates, five Muslim men have been held a collective total of 231 months in Canadian prisons, much of it in solitary confinement, without charge, without bail, on secret "evidence" which neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see. None has ever been convicted of any criminal offence in Canada.

Q.  Do you agree that the five detainees should be released and receive an open trial based on international fair trial standards? Do you agree that Canada should abolish security certificates?

TORTURE

9. Growing evidence suggests that the Canadian military and government are complicit in aiding the US government in carrying out torture of terror suspects through the practice of extraordinary rendition. CIA planes destined for torture centres in Poland and elsewhere may have landed to refuel in airports on the East Coast. Prisoners taken by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan are handed over to the US military, which keeps detainees in detention camps inaccessible to Red Cross officials, or it ships them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has a known record of abuse of prisoners.

Q. If elected, will you support a call for an investigation into Canada's complicity in the practice of extraordinary rendition, and demand that Canada abide by the recommendations of the Maher Arar inquiry and abide by Canada's commitment under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment?

WAR RESISTERS

10. Canadians were overwhelmingly opposed to sending military troops to Iraq with the United States in 2003, and a growing sentiment in the United States is calling for a pull-out of US forces from the region. Many U.S. soldiers have crossed over into Canada in order to avoid social stigmatization, or forced service in one of the most deadly and volatile conflicts in the world. Many people, including pre-eminent legal scholars, claim that the war is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. U.S. soldiers who do not want to serve in Iraq are appealing to the Canadian government to remain in Canada on Humanitarian or political refugee grounds.

Q. If elected, will you support the request that US war resisters be allowed to remain in Canada as refugees?