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Philip Coyle, Missile Defence and Space Weapons

February 25, 2006


Philip Coyle, former Assistant Secretary of Defense and currently Senior Advisor to the president of the Washington DC-based Center for Defense Information, wound-up his two-day visit to Canada yesterday. His visit was organized by the Polaris Institute.

During his visit he appeared in more than 40 daily newspapers, on CBC National radio and Broadcast News radio, and on CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live program (to watch, select the clip from the right hand "video" column) to discuss missile defence and the need for Canadian leadership internationally to prevent the weaponization of space.

Philip E. Coyle III visited Parliament Hill on the first anniversary of the Canadian government's decision to not join the U.S. missile defence program. He was a guest of the Polaris Institute.

On Thursday, he met with senior editors at the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and Friday he drew a capacity crowd at a Newsmaker's Luncheon at the National Press Club in Ottawa. The Toronto Star ran an editorial today as a result of the meeting with Mr. Coyle.

Mr. Coyle's visit to Ottawa was timed coincidentally with a major conference organized by Canada's main defence lobby group, the Conference of Defence Associations. Interest has been growing in the Conservative's plans on missile defence, especially since there is a robust lobby afoot to get the new government to overturn the previous government's decision.

Despite the fact Defence Minister O'Connor avoided mentioning the issue in his speech to the CDA Thursday, he was asked (some might say grilled) by reporters about the new Conservative government's professed willingness to reopen missile defence talks with the US. The minister restated the position as outlined by leader Stephen Harper during the election, that the Conservatives would re-enter talks if asked by the U.S. administration.

Later the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, said that the Bush administration "is in no hurry" to reopen missile defence talks.

Friday, February 24, was also the first anniversary of the Canadian Government's decision under Paul Martin to not participate in missile defence. A year ago when we were popping champagne, who would have thought that this issue would be in the newspapers again so quickly?

If you are interested in our forecast for how we might see these issues unfold in the next Parliament, I would encourage you to read our latest report, The New Peace Lobby: a five-point action plan for the 39th Parliament.



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Attn. Karen Craine, Program Assistant
kraine@polarisinstitute.org
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www.ceasefire.ca/
www.polarisinstitute.org

posted by Annamarie at 7:18 PM