Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of a number of Manitobans who would like to bring to the attention of the House the following: that the Government of Canada may be asked to support the U.S. national missile defence program.
They wish to point out that NMD is a unilateral initiative of the United States and that it would be a step toward the deployment of weapons in space, it would lead to a new arms race, it would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and that these treaties are cornerstones of the international non-proliferation arms control and disarmament regimes long supported by Canada.
The petitioners therefore call upon parliament to declare that Canada objects to the national defence program of the United States and they ask that parliament play a leadership role in banning nuclear weapons and missile flight tests.