13 March 1969: Draft Responses for the Minister - Sentinel

The Pearson government communicated a cautious approach to the issue of Sentinel deployment to the opposition and the public, as evidenced by these draft responses to anticipated House of Commons questions on the Sentinel ABM system.

The proposed response emphasized that while Canada had long been concerned by ABM deployment, which could harm the SALT talks, as well as arms control more broadly, ABM deployment and arms control negotiations were not necessarily mutually exclusive – as the Soviets had deployed their own limited ABM system while still preparing to enter into arms limitation talks with the United States. In line with the previous memo, which suggested that the Minister not commit to a concrete view until hearing from the Nixon Administration, the Minister deftly avoided committing to a position that suggested ABM deployment negatively impacted arms control in all circumstances.