Defending North America

1. For

1.1. Created a sense of security for many Canadians , knowing that we had some sort of defense mechanism against Soviet attacks.

1.2. Arrow Project was too expensive and ineffective at meeting Canada's security needs. Bomarc missiles were the use of nuclear heads.

1.3. American Bomarc missiles would have been placed at missile sites along the Canadian border, which would have downed any incoming Soviet bombers over vulnerable civilian areas.

2. Canada's Acceptance of Nuclear Weapons in 1963

3. Canada's Role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

3.1. For

3.2. The missiles, designed to deliver nuclear warheads, were capable of hitting targets anywhere in the United States or Canada

3.3. Against

3.4. U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his advisors secretly discussed what to do about this unexpected threat for a week. After rejecting calls from his military to launch air strikes against the missile sites, Kennedy mounted an immediate naval blockade of Cuba. He announced the crisis, and the blockade, in a televised address to the American public on 22 October, threatening further action if the missile sites were not dismantled.

4. The Scrapping of the Avro Arrow

4.1. Avro Arrow (CF-105), an advanced, supersonic, twin-engined, all-weather interceptor jet aircraft developed by A.V. Roe of Canada from 1949 until the government's controversial cancellation of the project in 1959.

4.2. For

4.3. Against

4.4. After export efforts again failed, the project was cancelled on 20 February 1959. A.V. Roe bitterly fired 14,000 employees; the government ordered all plans and prototypes destroyed

5. Against

5.1. Foreign Affairs Minister Howard Green felt that to accept nuclear weapons in Canada was hypocritical and against foreign policy as our involvements with the United Nations were striving towards global disarmament. Many Canadian citizens felt the same way.

5.2. Diefenbaker cabinet was very divided on the issue and spread an image that the conservatives lacked solidarity.