What will it take for NDP to call for end of US military ties?

 

The NDP isn’t pushing to sever any of Canada’s 500 military accords with the US despite Donald Trump’s violence and annexation threats.

Last April former defence ministers Peter McKay and David Pratt wrote, “It is estimated that since the 1940s, the two countries have signed more than 2,500 agreements covering North American security, defence, research, communications, logistics and maritime operations.” A decade ago, the Department of National Defence suggested there were 500 active accords, noting there are “eighty treaty-level agreements, more than 250 memoranda of understanding, and 145 bilateral forums on defence” between the two countries’ militaries.

The most important binational military accord is the North American Aerospace Defense Command. NORAD makes Canada directly complicit in US wars, such as the current aggression in Iran, even if Canada doesn’t participate officially. While members have historically voted to withdraw from NORAD, I haven’t seen anything from Avi Lewis or others in the NDP about the agreement.

Another lesser known, though significant, bilateral military accord is the Defence Production Sharing Agreement, which effectively makes Canada part of the US defence industrial base. Since the 1956 DPSA Canada has sold around $100 billions in arms to the US, which has been the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. There’s been no discussion about ending the DPSA despite NDP MP Jenny Kwan’s private members’ bill to close loopholes in Canada’s arms export laws.

NATO is the best-known (multilateral) military accord Canada is part of. Despite the Secretary General of NATO labelling the alliance “a platform for the United States to project power on the world stage” and many prominent European left officials calling for their countries’ to withdraw from the alliance it’s been crickets from the NDP. In fact, leadership candidate Heather McPherson and other MPs have been on the NATO Parliamentary Association.

A year ago the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and Just Peace Advocates promoted an email petition campaign calling for a pause in officer exchanges with the US until Trump stopped threatening to annex Canada. Several thousand individuals sent emails to the defence minister, as well as the NDP critic, and I’ve raised the subject in many forums. Has an NDP candidate or leader called to pause officer exchanges that saw Canadian soldiers assist US aggression in Iran and Venezuela?

Instead of seriously discussing the Canadian military’s ties to their US counterparts, the NDP has excluded a campaign calling for Canada to withdraw from NATO, Five Eyes and NORAD. The platform for my NDP leadership campaign, drafted by 45 activists over three months, also calls to: “Halt further participation in NATO and US-led military exercises, including patrols and training, which are rehearsals for future wars of aggression and deliberate acts of provocation. Cancel officer exchanges with the US military and other imperialist powers which only ensure interoperability for wars of aggression. End the US-Canada arms supply loophole that circumvents regulation and international law by allowing shipments of arms to the US, which are used for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide abroad.”

Not content with blocking us from the leadership race, now the NDP has expelled me from the party. Recently National Director Lucy Watson sent a letter unilaterally revoking my membership in the party. The NDP’s suppression of our anti-militarist campaign would have been shameful under normal circumstances but, it’s outrageous to do so as Mark Carney supports the aggression against Iran, kidnapping of Venezuela’ president, oil embargo on Cuba and genocide in Gaza.

As per our platform, “Rather than articulating an alternative and progressive vision, the current NDP leadership has abandoned its historic verbal commitment to peace and restraint by echoing militaristic narratives and pledging continued loyalty to NATO, the U.S. empire, and the steady militarization of Canadian society.”

What will it take for the NDP to call for an end to one of the 500 military accords. A US invasion of Canada?

Please email the NDP federal council to demand my reinstatement.

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