• Ensuring
Parliament votes before committing troops
overseas and by comparing all military options with their compliance to
international law and availability of peaceful alternatives.
A supermajority or 2/3 vote must be achieved regarding the issue of
troop commitment (re: Mike from Rational Reasons)
-To achieve the goals of a “Canada First” Defense
Policy, the BPOC believes the regular force strength of the Canadian Forces
must be steadily increased to at least 75,000 personnel, along with
simultaneous increases in reserve personnel levels.
• Ensuring that if a
decision is made not to enter into war, Canadian Armed Forces personnel
do not serve in or command other nations’ militaries
• Placing a priority
on peacekeeping and peacemaking operations.
•
Working to strengthen the United Nations and regional security bodies
such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as an
alternative to the US-dominated bodies of NATO and NORAD, particularly in
light of NATO’s refusal to renounce the first use of nuclear weapons and the
likely location of Star Wars-NMD coordination at NORAD headquarters.
• Serving notice
that agreements permitting US soldiers to enter Canada automatically in times
of emergency are cancelled and changed to requiring the express
permission of Parliament.
• Creating a new
agency to promote fair elections and democratic processes amonge
merging democracies.
• Establishing a Royal Commission
to conduct a full, thorough review of Canada’s role as a middle,
humanitarian power in a post-Cold War world.
• Making
peacekeeping and peacemaking operations the priority for Canadian Armed
Forces operations overseas and working with similar nations to co-operate in
organizations that take a holistic approach to security issues.
• Supporting safe
helicopters for the Canadian Armed Forces.
• Separating the
Coast Guard from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, with increased
funding to enforce international and national rules, but also to prevent drug
interdiction and illegal immigration, and to keep up the fisheries patrol and
marine and environmental protection.
• Increasing the
salaries and improving housing for members of the Canadian Armed
Forces.
• Working with other
nations to develop replacements, based on the principle of cohesive
human security and organizations like the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to NATO and NORAD to reflect all security
challenges in a post-Cold War world.
• Cancelling
offensive, expensive and unnecessary long
range weapons systems for the Canadian Armed Forces, reducing the DND
bureaucracy, and reallocating savings to invest in reserve and regular
personnel and better training and equipment so that they can carryout
Canada’s vital peacekeeping and peacemaking roles. Concentrations on
providing new safe equipment in terms of helicopters, uniforms, armor, and
vehicles
• Opposing the
introduction of a national identity card, which endangers the privacy
rights of every Canadian.
• Scrapping the
draconian Anti-Terrorism Act, which has already impeded media freedom
in Canada, and replacing it with legislation that respects civil liberties,
ethnic communities and freedom of the press.
RACIAL PROFILING -
The BPOC will work to improve the
use of tracking behavioral patterns in lieu of racial profiling to help
avoid situations like the London de Mendez incident. A program for this along
with intelligence gathering and transfer is greatly needed to avoid such
incidents in the future.
• Working with the United States to ensure effective border security
that enables the movement of people and goods.
• Increasing
security provisions at remote airports.
• Continuing work in
multilateral arms reduction treaties to reduce and eventually eliminate
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, which are safe in no one’s hands.
• Launching a full
review of Canadian national defence to determine what armed forces for
Canada in the 21st century should be and what resources are needed, balancing
our traditional peacekeeping and peacemaking focus with the need to have a
truly independent foreign policy.
• Firmly opposing
any Canadian participation in the grossly expensive Star Wars missile
defense scheme, which will result in the weaponising of space and does nothing
to protect us from terrorism, and promoting the proposed Space Preservation
Treaty.
-The BPOC supports the longer term
goal of increasing the defense budget base to ensure that Canada can
advance its national interests, at levels comparable to Canada’s NATO
European allies
-the Government will work to bring
about a meeting of G20 leaders to address common and pressing concerns,
such as how to improve public health systems, combat terrorism and reform our
multilateral institutions
-A committee of senior government
and official opposition Members of Parliament (sworn to secrecy as
required) will be established to scrutinize and oversee the activities of the
national intelligence agency, utilizing confidential and in-camera sessions as
required. The head of the national intelligence agency should be confirmed by
Parliament and should appear before the committee on a regular basis and as
required.
Veteran Affairs
-A BPOC Government
will treat all veterans with respect and will create a Veteran’s Bill of
Rights to ensure that all disputes involving veterans are treated
quickly, fairly and with the presumption in favor of the rights of the
veteran.
- A BPOC Government will ensure the
veterans of Canada’s wars and peacekeeping operations receive their
veterans’ benefits and health care in a timely fashion.
- A BPOC Government will conduct a complete
review of the veterans’ hospitals to ensure that the needs of
veterans are being met.
- The BPOC would immediately disband the
Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) and replace the membership with
qualified medical and military members who are capable of adjudicating
appeals on an informed basis rather than a political basis. The VRAB would be
housed in offices separate from VA offices and be in locations as set out in
the VA Regional offices (major centers).
- The BPOC would
immediately extend Veterans Independence Program services to the widows
of all Second World War and Korean War veterans regardless of when the Veteran
died or how long they had been receiving the benefit before they passed away.
