Madam Chair, the member, whose intervention is extremely welcome here this evening, has made the point, one that is very important to Canadians, that Canada is known in the world and Canadians take some pride in our being a nation that is involved in bridge-building and a nation absolutely committed to multilateralism.
In contrast to that, I received, as we all did, various reminders from people about their concerns with respect to the approach of the United States to multilateralism in recent times, particularly as it relates to star wars. As one person wrote, “the U.S. is firing on all cylinders to get star wars in place” and pointed out that in December of 2002, the U.S. abrogated the international treaty on anti-ballistic missiles testing.
In December 2003 the U.S. cast the only dissenting vote on the UN resolution for a comprehensive test banning treaty. In December 2003 it voted against the total elimination of nuclear weapons. In December 2003 it also voted against a nuclear-free world. It voted against the obligation for nuclear disarmament, again in December 2003, and abstained on a vote at the UN to prevent the weaponization of space. In fact, when the UN general assembly voted on a resolution, specifically the prevention of an arms race in outer space, on which well over 160 countries voted in favour, the U.S. opted to abstain.
Could the member elaborate further on where she thinks this puts Canada in terms of our relationship with the other peace-loving, peace-building nations in the world that are concerned about the weaponization of space?