https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/ea1cb886152dd7822d47815db121ab69.pdf 50470aa84466925716c72402aa52900c PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la toi sur I'acces a I'information Unrevised Hansard, December 20. 1960, pp. 970-1 NATIONAL DEFENCE NATO—SUCJraSTED_ POOL OF_ NUCLEAR WEAPONS On the orders of the day: Hen. Paul Hellyer (Trinity): I should like to pose a question to the Minister of National Defence. Will the minister give us as much information as possible about the United States proposal to equip the NATO forces with nuclear weapons? I refer to the pool arrangement. Hon. D. S. Harkness (Minister of National Deience): I cannot give any more information than has already been given by the Secretary of State for External Affairs and that which has appeared in newspaper accounts, I believe, of the NATO meetings. As the Secretary of State for External Affairs pointed out, the Americans put this proposal forward as a suggested concept. No great details in connection with the matter were gone into. Mr. Hellyer: I have a supplementary question. Can the minister say • whether storage depots are already being built for the nuclear warheads that the Canadian forces expect to use, as reported by Peter Newman .in the current issue of Maclean's? Mr. Harkness: Under the infrastructure aVrangement of NATO, certain storages are being constructed. Some of these storages are in areas where the Canadian forces are likely to operate or close to where they are stationed at the present time. However, these storages, of course, are for the use of NATO troops generally, as the term infrastructure really implies, and it is the same kind of arrangement as the various types of construction carried on by NATO under infrastructure have been more or less from the beginning. Mr. Hellyer: I have a further supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. In view of Canada's participation in these storage depots under infrastructure, and Canada's acquisition of vehicles for the deliverance of nuclear weapons, has the decision been made for Canada to obtain the warheads necessary to make them effective? Mr. Harkness: The answer is no. Hon. L. B. Pearson (Leader of the Opposition): Mr. Speaker, could I ask the minister whether he still believes it would be absurd for the Canadian forces not to use nuclear weapons? Mr. Speaker: I think the Leader of the Opposition's question is largely a contro* versial one and is likely to promote a discussion which would be inappropriate. However, if the minister wishes to accept the question he may do so. Mr. Harkness: Mr. Speaker, I think I could perhaps""just point out that the Leader of the Opposition appears to be attempting to put words in my mouth, to which I object most strongly. •Mr. Pearson: Mr. Speaker, may I ask the minister, does he deny the statement attributed to him by the press on this matter when he was in Paris earlier? Mr. Harkness: Mr. Speaker, I do not know to what statement the Leader of the Opposition refers, but I certainly never said anything about nuclear weapons being absurd from any point of view. [Later.] Mr. Pearson: On a question of privilege, the Minister of National Defence stated a few minutes ago that I had misquoted him in the course of a question 1 asked. In justice to the minister and the house 1 should like to read the exact quotation which I was using. It was from a Southam news service report of an interview by Charles King, and it appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on November 2. The minister is reported as saying: "If we are to have a fully effective force, our people have to have nuclear arms. This is the only position that a reasonable man can take." "Not having nuclear arms is completely stupid." Mr. Harkness: The Leader of the Opposition started putting into my mouth words about nuclear arms, and my having said something about their not being used by Canada as being absurd, and I quite properly pointed out that I had never said anything along those lines. Now he is trying to cover up the mistake he made by quoting something else. I should just like to say in connection with that matter that Mr. King and I had quite a serious difference of opinion about what I said on that occasion, something that is not unknown as far as things along that line are concerned. Certainly I felt very strongly I had not made a statement along those lines. Mr. King thought that I had. That was the situation. I would point out that in any event a statement of that kind is not borne out by any other statement I have made and was not reported by any other newspaper reporter and since I got back to Canada, 1 have made it clear that it does not represent my thinking on this matter. 000880 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDNW01745 Title A name given to the resource CDNW01745 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "DEFENCE - Canada-US Arrangements - Acquisition of Nuclear Weapons for Use by Canadian Forces," RG2-B-2, Box 23-24, file D-1-5(f), Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Nuclear Weapons Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en