Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
I am very pleased to stand in this place today to support the renewal of the North American Air Defence Agreement, Norad. I have personally spent many years involved in the business of Norad air defence over all three coasts in the cockpit of a CF-18 and as a staff officer in Fighter Group and Air Command headquarters. Norad has been a key element of the Canada-U.S. defence relationship and a symbol of our friendship and cooperation for nearly 50 years.
Throughout the cold war, Norad provided our two countries with an effective means of defending our continent against aerospace attacks. Norad has been able to adapt to new and emerging threats over a half century of changes in the international security environment.
I would like to take this opportunity to illustrate Norad's evolution and show how this agency has always adapted to new challenges.
I will show that the new Norad agreement will allow us to be more effective in handling the threats we face today.
Renewing the Norad agreement is part of the government's primary commitment to defend Canada's sovereignty and keep Canadians safe.
Norad emerged in response to the cold war threat of Soviet intercontinental bombers carrying out nuclear attacks against North America by crossing the Arctic. Canada and the United States both responded to that threat but our efforts became joined when the Norad agreement was signed in 1958, creating a bi-national command responsible to both Canada and the United States for North American air defence.
Over the years, the original mission of Norad, aerospace control, attack warning and response, was modified to keep pace with changing weapons technologies. During the 1960s, the advent of ICBMs caused Norad to adjust its role to emphasize missile warning. In the 1980s, it was the new threat of cruise missiles that caused the mission to again change to one of intercepting Soviet aircraft before they launched their cruise missiles.
New early warning systems were deployed and forward operating locations were built in northern Canada and American airfields capable of operating U.S. and Canadian fighters. However, then, with the end of the cold war, many believed that Norad would be obsolete, that it would not be relevant in a post cold war world. They were wrong.
In 1991, Norad's mandate was expanded to include tracking and monitoring aircraft suspected of transporting illegal drugs.
Today, Norad continues to work together with police authorities in both our countries, closely monitoring aircraft that enter Canada's airspace without a flight plan until law enforcement officials can ground them to do an inspection.
Since September 11, 2001, we can see that the classic Cold War enemies have been replaced with a new type of enemy, an enemy that lies low and inflicts terror and that in a cowardly and callous way kills and injures innocent people.
That is why we must do everything we can to protect our fellow citizens from this new type of threat.
It is just as important to renew the Norad agreement as to adapt it to the current security context.
Successive Canadian governments have recognized that Norad represents the most effective way to provide for Canada's aerospace defence. The government agrees. The world has become increasingly dangerous and unstable. Along with our American partners, we must stand on guard and respond to new threats to North America together. Norad will continue to play a vital role in ensuring our security.
The new Norad agreement, which we are putting before the House today, has been adapted to meet the new security challenges that lie ahead. For one, our two countries have decided to renew Norad indefinitely, subject to periodic reviews.
Until now, the Norad agreement has been renewed for limited periods of time. It has actually been renewed nine times since 1958 and must be renewed again in May 2006.
By making the Norad agreement more permanent, both countries are making a strong binational commitment to North American defence.
We are also sending a strong message to potential hostile parties, who will see that we are serious about protecting the continent we share against any threats we may face.
Canada and the United States have also agreed to add a maritime warning function to Norad. September 11, 2001 and subsequent attacks around the world have reminded us all too well how terrorists can strike us anywhere and in many forms. The terrorist bombing of the American warship USS Cole, in October 2000, and the French tanker Limburg, in October 2002, demonstrated that terrorists can strike from the sea.
Canada and the United States are maritime nations. Canada has the longest coastline in the world. Maritime traffic in our waters is particularly heavy, and the trade that moves between our ports is important for both countries' economies.
We must act before terrorists attack our ports, our ships and our maritime trade. It is therefore essential that both countries continue to work together to improve North American maritime security.
Even though our countries' navies, coast guards and other agencies have been cooperating extensively for years now in the maritime domain, no single binational organization has ever been responsible for collecting and analyzing information related to potential maritime threats to this continent. No single organization has been responsible for providing such data to both American and Canadian authorities.
We now have an opportunity to address that gap and to provide the assistance of a very experienced binational organization to help us control this complex and dynamic environment. Norad has the necessary flexibility and experience to undertake this new mission.
Norad will contribute to the processing, assessing and disseminating of intelligence and information on maritime activities taking place off our shores and on our waterways. It will also contribute to the overall warning capability for Canadian and American authorities of maritime threats or attacks against North America.
Responding to maritime threats, however, will remain the duty of each country's national commands namely, Canada Command and United States Northern Command. By adding maritime warning to Norad's mission to deter, detect and defend against airborne threats, Canada and the United States are developing more tools to safeguard our shared continent for 21st century threats.
The uniqueness of Norad is its binational nature, and that has provided Canada with access to critical security information in a timely manner. It has also given Canada an umbrella of aerospace security that we could not afford on our own. There are no other examples of international defence agreements where personnel of two militaries work so closely in a seamless operation.
Indeed, on that awful day of September 2001, it was a friend of mine, then Major General Rick Findley, who was on duty in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. It was a Canadian who was responsible for managing the immediate reaction to the events as they unfolded, even though the activity was taking place in the United States. I do not think we would find that anywhere else in the world.
If we were ever to abandon Norad and if we were to remain serious about providing for our own aerospace sovereignty and security, we would have to duplicate most of what we have available through Norad. Simply put: we could not do it.
Norad remains a key element of North American security and a highly efficient defence arrangement. After almost 50 years, the Canadian and American governments still agree that it makes a lot more sense to perform the missions and functions of Norad together than to perform them apart.
While the basic objectives of Norad have endured for years, Norad has also appropriately responded to changes in the security environment. The new Norad agreement will see this trend continue. It will provide Canada with an effective and efficient means of carrying out an important and ongoing national objective: the maintenance of Canadian sovereignty and Canadian security.
