05) PEACE ALLIANCE RAISES MILITARISM ISSUES WITH NDP

With the federal NDP leadership vote coming up on March 24, the eight candidates have largely avoided the issues of war and militarism, where their party has a mixed record. Fortunately, the Canadian Peace Alliance has sent several important questions to the candidates. This welcome initiative may help raise these crucial issues at a time when the NDP is the Official Opposition in Parliament, and hopes to win the next federal election expected in 2015. People's Voice will report on the responses from the leadership candidates.

     1) Military Spending - The CANADA FIRST DEFENCE STRATEGY earmarks $480 billion for military spending by 2025. This is the largest increase in military spending since WWII and makes Canada the 13th largest military spender in the world. Simultaneously, the government of Canada is calling for austerity and plans an $11 billion cut to public services in their next federal budget. The Canadian Peace Alliance has launched a campaign called Peace and Prosperity ‑ NOT ‑ War and Austerity to redirect that spending.

     Question: What would you do to counter this imbalance and call for a redirection of money, allocated for the military to public services, health, veteran rehabilitation, education and environmental programs?

     2) Afghanistan - The Government of Canada has extended Canada's troop presence in Afghanistan until 2013. This is the third time they have extended Canada's participation in the war. In poll after poll, the majority of Canadians have shown that they want all of our troops removed from Afghanistan now.

     Question: What would you do to as leader of the opposition to raise this issue and to call for the immediate removal of all Canadian troops including troop trainers from Afghanistan?

     3) Sanctions and war on Iran - There are signs that the US, Israel and other NATO countries not only are planning a fifth round of severe sanctions but also a possible nuclear military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Any use of military force against nuclear installations in Iran will be dangerous and illegal under international law. As was the case with Iraq, sanctions and war created a humanitarian crisis with more than 1.5 million dead and a country in ruins.

     Question: Would you oppose further sanctions and a military attack on Iran?

     4) Civil Liberties - The Conservative government has a record of attacking those who dissent ‑ in particular, criminalizing Muslims as so‑called "Islamists" and criminalizing Aboriginal people who try to assert control over their traditional territories. Now the government has said it will reintroduce anti‑terror legislation which had expired in 2007 including clauses in bills C‑36 and C‑42 which suspend the rule of law and allow for people to arrested and detained without charge.

     Question: What would you do to stop the Conservative plan to set back civil liberties in Canada and work to rescind those elements of bills C‑36 and C‑42 that have been extended?

     5) NATO ‑ The NDP is on record calling for Canada to withdraw from NATO. Canada's NATO membership has resulted in our armed forces being embroiled in conflicts, such as the war in Libya, during which NATO far exceeded its regional and military mandate. The Libya mission, under NATO, morphed from a call for a limited mission into an aggressive war for regime change.

     Question: Do you think Canada should continue to be part of NATO? If yes, why? If no, why?

(The above article is from the February 15-29, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)