Mr. Speaker, the Government of France has just announced that it plans to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific, ending a moratorium on testing that has held since 1992.
The statement of principles from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty signed in May of this year commits all nuclear weapons states to exercise utmost restraint on nuclear testing pending the signing of a comprehensive test ban treaty. The French announcement is clearly a step in the opposite direction.
The Canadian government was one of the many nations that pushed to make this treaty binding and permanent. Now, just one month after that signing, the spirit of the agreement is threatened.
I call on the Canadian government to show that it means what it says by protesting France's decision and to restate this country's commitment to a ban on all nuclear testing.