Mr. Speaker, this is a very important item for us to be considering and debating in the House of Commons, on behalf of all Canadians, and we must keep that in mind. We are here on behalf of all Canadians. We should always reflect upon the first and primary responsibility of any national government, which is the safety and security of its citizens. Therefore, we should look at the renewal of the Norad contract in that light.
Will this enhance the safety and security of our citizens in Canada and, therefore, enhance our national interest? In that light my colleague with whom I will be sharing my time, the member for Provencher, the Minister of Justice, will reflect on these things.
For Canadians who may be interested, but not fully aware of the history of this agreement, I will reflect for a couple of minutes.
In the beginning and moving toward the first half of the last century, changes in how countries went to war against each other were affecting the type of alliances that countries would make to protect themselves.
At the start of the previous century, it was never dreamt that machines would be able to fly through the air and conduct war from a distance on other countries. With the inception of that in the first world war to a degree and then the ongoing capability, as nations like Canada and the United States saw moving through the thirties, not only was air warfare a fact of life, but the ability of airplanes to fly great distances, without having to refuel and to carry heavy bomb loads, was a reality. There was the onset of aircraft carriers.
All of this caused nations everywhere, and specifically Canada and the United States, to realize that there was a need to work together to protect our individual nations and corporately to protect the continent. As far back as 1940 with the advent of the Ogdensburg agreement, the initial makings of the Norad agreement, the air defence agreement to defend North America, started to have its genesis. Through the cold war, it was then evident to everybody around the world, and certainly to us in North America, that countries now had the capability through missiles alone to attack from a great distance and cause terrible damage and harm to another country. The need to work together for the protection of our individual nations, but being linked geographically with the United States to protect the continent, became paramount. Therefore, the agreement was put together.
However, when it was first put together, that Canada would work with the United States, we had, as we do now, issues of our own sovereignty and our own national interests. We wanted to ensure that there would be equal say in this agreement. Therefore, from 1958, and even until today, there is a joint sharing of command. There is literally times when there will be a Canadian commander, who is in the command position at a certain time of night or day in that great mountain, that great cavern in Colorado, directing the operations of the North American air defence system. For part of a shift it will be a Canadian and the other part it will be an American.
As a matter fact, a Canadian was on the command shift during 9/11 when signals and instructions had to go out across North America saying that all planes had to be grounded and that no incoming traffic could come into the United States. It was quite a significant time in history for a Canadian to be in charge of the North American air defence system at that particular time. Now, as is required, there is a renewal coming up for the agreement.
We have to look at the gains that can be made and are made for Canada in terms of our national interest. We always have to put Canadian sovereignty and Canadian national interests first. Through this agreement, our entire southern border is protected at very little cost to us. Ten per cent of the whole agreement falls upon Canadian shoulders, with ninety per cent being picked up on the American side.
When we look at the fact that we can offer protection to our neighbours to the south through observation and our capabilities to the north, and that together we can work to protect our own nations individually and the continent collectively, this is a tremendous advantage for us. There are few countries in the world have that capability and that advantage.
Because of the agreement, we are able to have insight and also influence on U.S. decisions related to military, intelligence gathering and the development of certain products that are needed when it comes to looking at protecting an entire continent. There is the fact that Canadian research and development teams and companies have great access to the type of equipment and capability that make this type of agreement possible. Some 50,000 aerospace jobs alone in Canada depend directly on the agreement. Not that we should be in the agreement just for economic reasons alone, but it is a tremendous advantage to us that we can.
The fact that we are adding a maritime component of this does not diminish in any way our national sovereignty. It simply increases the warning component. If there are threats from sea, not just the air now, in those instances, if they are threats internal to Canada, then Canada has full command. If they are internal to the United States, it has full command in those situations.
We are adding this marine component because we realize the capability now of those who would threaten peace, the nations around the world that have declared themselves to be haters and despisers of democracy and freedom. We need to be able to protect ourselves from ways and means of which they might use to deploy their destructive purposes upon us.
We look at the agreement also in terms of what does it bind us to and are we committed forever? This is an agreement that we want to have based on being a permanent agreement, but with a four year renewal clause. At least every four years it has to be renewed. Should Canada ever decide to get out of the agreement, we can pull out of that on a year's notice.
The commitment level in time and resource is definitely manageable. What is not manageable is our increased risk. People might say that the cold war is over. After the cold war, there was even discussion about whether NATO should exist, let alone Norad.
We know we are into a cold peace now in many ways. North Korea has been very aggressive in terms of its ballistic developments and the warheads that it is capable of putting on to its ballistics. Iran is far from having the capability to launch an attack on North America from its distance, but that is only now. In the future we know these nations increase in their capabilities.
It simply makes sense, and to fulfill our obligation to our citizens, that we do what is responsible as a government, ensuring that the safety and security of our citizens are being put first. It is for these reasons, in my view, that it is very advantageous for us to sign on to this agreement.
I listen to my colleagues, and I am not doubting their care and concern about Canada, but I wish they would be clear. Do they want in or out of this agreement? They use all these words to try and appeal to one group here or one group there. I wish they would just come out and say it. Do they want out of this agreement? They come out with all these verbal attacks and raise all these questions, and there should be questions raised about this agreement. We are trying to address them. If they are not for the agreement, then stand up and say so. They have to make that case and let Canadians know where they are at.
We are for the agreement for all the reasons that we have stated. I hope other colleagues would agree. We are working, at least partially, with an opposition across the floor which was a party to signing amendments to the agreement as recently as 2004. It was in place as a government when it signed on to the agreement. I take for granted, although I do not want to do that in a way that would diminish the members input into this agreement, but I hope we will have that type of collaboration The agreement has served us well. It is also cost saving. As I said, we only have to put 10% of the cost of Norad into this.
The agreement has served us well. It is also cost saving. As I said, we only have to put 10% of the cost into Norad. Yesterday we announced $1.4 billion, in what I think was a pretty positive budget, to go into safety and security toward our borders. However, we would not have been able to apply that yesterday because we would have had to redirect untold amounts of funds to make up for the fact that we were not plugged into a Norad agreement with the United States providing the lion's share of that protective capability.
We are pleased to do this. We are pleased that we have a one-year out clause if necessary. We are pleased to say to Canadians that it is in our best interest and our sovereign interest to continue to sign this historic agreement to protect North America.