CANADA: Peace Groups Warily Welcome Prime Minister’s Stand on Iraq

By Marty Logan Reprint | | Print |

Marty Logan

MONTREAL, Jan 17 2003 (IPS) - Peace groups have welcomed Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s statement that Canada has not committed to joining the United States in a unilateral attack on Iraq, but were disappointed he did not shut the door on the possibility.

On Wednesday, Chretien said that Defence Minister John McCallum was merely speculating when he said in Washington last week that Canada would consider participating in a U.S.-led war against Iraq even if the move was not sanctioned by the United Nations.

"The Canadian position is that, on matters of peace and security, the international community must speak and act through the U.N. Security Council," Chretien told a news conference. "We believe in multilateralism very strongly."

At least one Liberal Party MP had threatened to quit Chretien’s party and sit as an independent if the leader did not refute McCallum’s remarks.

”We’re very happy that Jean Chretien has clarified our government’s position,” but ”I don’t believe for a minute that Minister McCallum’s statement was a speculative comment,” said Josh Matlow, national campaign organiser of the umbrella group Canadian Peace Alliance.

It is likely, he said, that McCallum was testing public opinion on Canada joining a possible U.S. war against Iraq, and he suggested that despite Chretien’s strong words, the matter might not be settled. "You never know with this government,” Matlow told IPS from Toronto.

The prime minister refused to fall into the same trap as McCallum on Wednesday and would not comment on possible scenarios for Canada’s role in the event of an attack on Iraq. "I’m not answering speculative questions,” he said.

"I don’t see it as being in substance very different from what the defence minister said,” Ernie Regehr, director of peace group Project Ploughshares told IPS.

”What was positive and welcome (about Chretien’s comments),” he added, ”was his strong public affirmation of staying within a U.N. mandate”. McCallum’s words could have damaged Canada’s reputation as a champion of multilateralism and the United Nations, said Regehr.

In fact, one expert believes that Chretien and McCallum agree on the government’s position but they simply expressed it differently. ”John McCallum was speaking to the reality of the situation and Jean Chretien was speaking to the domestic politics,” said Fen Hampson of the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa.

”When all is said and done, would we say to the Americans ‘no, we’re not with you’? That would be very difficult,” Hampson added. ”When push comes to shove, they can hurt us a lot more than we can hurt them.”

Canada exports about 85 percent of its goods to its giant southern neighbour and U.S. moves to tighten the border since the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks have been strongly resisted here.

Despite its position next to the world’s superpower, anti-war sentiment looks to be growing in Canada, as it is in other western nations. A recent poll found that 54 percent of Canadians do not think U.S. President George W Bush has enough reason to attack Iraq.

That was slightly higher than the 51 percent of people who agreed with the statement in a poll last month. The earlier survey also found that fewer than three in 10 Canadians wanted the country to participate in an attack even if authorised by the Security Council.

Matlow said he is expecting the largest yet turnout of people for anti-war rallies planned for Saturday in more than 30 cities across the country. A November demonstration in Vancouver drew 15,000 supporters.

Other rallies are planned Saturday in the United States and Japan while European protests are scheduled for Feb. 15.

”This is the biggest peace movement we’ve had since Vietnam. I’m getting calls from animal rights groups, energy groups” and others usually not associated with the peace movement, said Matlow. ”I’m getting hundreds of calls a day.”

On Friday, Project Ploughshares will release a letter, signed also by the Canadian Council of Churches and Kairos, a group of 10 inter-church coalitions, calling on the Canadian government to reject participating in a war against Iraq.

”The only reasonable certainty (the Iraqi people) face is that the costs of war would be even worse than the current situation and would delay, not hasten, the advent of sustainable change. We believe it is our collective responsibility to accompany the people of Iraq, not with more bombs and missiles, but with moral, political and material support,” it says.