Mr. Speaker, it is with great honour as a member of Parliament for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, home of the warriors posted to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, that I participate in this historic debate before Parliament, the renewal of the Norad Treaty for parliamentary approval.
It is time to foster a growing public awareness of Canada's role in the world in this age of globalization. Our role in the world, as never before, must be capable of operating under close public and parliamentary scrutiny.
Our new Conservative government is committed to greater accountability and a more meaningful role for Parliament in Canada's international relations. That is why we are submitting for debate and a vote in the House the renewal of the agreement between Canada and the United States, which underpins our participation in the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Norad.
This is another example of a promise made and a promise kept. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of National Defence have already described for members the reasons for renewing the Norad agreement and why it is in Canada's national interest to do so.
It is my privilege to be able to elaborate on their remarks and further help the case for the full support of the House for renewing the Norad agreement.
Canada and the United States have been partners in the defence of our shared continent since 1940, when Canada signed the Ogdensburg Agreement. That agreement first enshrined the principle of mutual defence between Canada and the United States. It acknowledged the indivisibility of the national security of our respective countries and the collective security of our continent.
At that time, Canada did not want its territory to be susceptible to attack by global threats. We readily agreed to enter into such a mutual defence pact with the U.S. because of the inherent vulnerability posed by our large land mass and our small population.
Canada and the U.S. had also fought together as allies in the first world war, and the U.S. was about to join us in fighting World War II. When the second world war ended and our countries faced a new threat from the Soviet Union, Canada and the United States immediately renewed their commitment to mutual defence through cooperative air defence arrangements to protect our continent. This led within a few years to the signing of the Norad agreement in 1958, an agreement concluded under the umbrella of the NATO Treaty.
Today, the indivisibility of the security of our two countries and our continent is perhaps greater because of the economic interdependence that has grown between us. We know the figures and the volumes of cross-border trade and its value to Canada . We know that we are each other's largest single trading partner, though admittedly in our case, to a much higher order of magnitude than for the United States. Neither country is immune to disruptions in the other.
One need only recall the images of the clogged border crossings in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, or the unprecedented scene of aircraft gridlock when U.S. bound flights were diverted to the airport in Gander, Newfoundland. The economic impact of the attacks on the U.S. was acutely and instantly felt in Canada, but the indivisibility of our security goes well beyond the vital economic relationship between our nations and the prosperity we derive from it.
Our nations and our people face similar threats in today's world. As a freedom loving people, our values and interests are being opposed, not just theoretically but with overt hostility by radical extremists, rogue states and terrorists around the world. There is a community of values that we share, not only with our American neighbours but with all our other allies who are under a threat today.
Those who threaten our values rarely make distinctions on the basis of nationality, and though a large conventional threat to Canada is remote, the possibility still exists.
Canada must remain capable of dealing with the possible emergence of all threats, given the unacceptable implications of ignoring the realities of today's world. Members need only consider the debate we recently held on Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. There Canada is confronting an enemy at a safe distance from our shores, but in this day and age of globalized risk, we must also defend ourselves at home.
Traditional security paradigms have been shattered. We live in a new era, where threats present themselves internally with greater stealth and surprise than in the past when we faced a more conventional set of adversaries. These factors make our participation in Norad all the more relevant today. Norad has adapted to the new threat environment we now face.
Since the last renewal of Norad in 2001, just months before the attacks of September 11, Norad's mission has been transformed. Norad radars, communications, fighter jets and other assets have been recalibrated to address threats not only in the approaches to North America, but those emanating from within. After all, the 9/11 attacks were conducted within sovereign territory with civilian aircraft, with civilians as the targets.
Canada's national security and defence policies have evolved. Norad has adapted to this new framework by establishing direct links with a host of agencies outside the military, such as Nav Canada and its U.S. counterpart, the FAA, for civilian aviation, and with law enforcement and other security agencies in Canada and the United States.
The purpose of these growing linkages is to promote timely information sharing and a better preparedness against a wide spectrum of traditional and non-traditional threats.
In the next renewal of the Norad agreement, due before its expiry on May 12, 2006, Canada and the U.S. have not only reaffirmed Norad's aerospace defence mission, but we have negotiated a new mission to warn both nations of threats in the maritime domain.
Adding a maritime watch to Norad is a recognition that threats to our countries can reside anywhere, not just in the air domain. It is also a recognition by both countries of how well continental defence cooperation works through the vehicle of Norad.
Let me focus for a moment on the unique structure of Norad and why it has served both countries so well for so long. Norad is a binational military command where both nationalities are represented in a single chain of command. The commander is a four-star American officer and the deputy commander is a three-star equivalent Canadian officer.
In the Norad organization, whether it is in the strategic headquarters in Colorado or the Norad regional headquarters in Manitoba, Alaska and Florida, Canadian and American military members work side by side as a seamless team. Norad is based on mutually agreed protocols for the military defence of our sovereign territories.
The Norad commander reports to both governments and shares the warning threat information equally with both capitals. Norad is a venue where Canada has an equal say in the development of plans and the strategies for the defence of our shared continent. It is this unique arrangement that entails a higher degree of reciprocity and cooperation than can be found in any other alliance or coalition.
For Canada, Norad is a way of enhancing our defence capabilities through cooperation with the U.S., in effect by tapping into the economies of scale in the U.S. military. Canada's security benefits from this formula much the same way our economy benefits from its access to the U.S. market. Norad enables Canada to defend its share of the continent in ways that it could not do on its own, or not without ultimately prohibitive expenditure.
The U.S. derives benefits from assured cooperation with Canada in the defence of North America, particularly with the ability to detect threats before they reach national borders and the valued contribution of our Canadian Forces personnel and assets.
Norad has provided both nations with a flexible and adaptable framework for sharing information and warning of threats and the capacity to take action in response, either collectively or individually depending on the circumstances. It is a forum where the sovereignty of each nation is not only respected but enhanced by guarantees of mutual assistance in the event of attack. Those guarantees are backed by the necessary plans, the training and the operating procedures to render that assistance on a moment's notice.