The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network (CWPJN) condemns the Carney government for its participation in the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” to place troops in Ukraine and to raise military spending to “unprecedented” levels.
At its regular membership meeting, the CWPJN unanimously passed the following resolution:
Whereas several highly-placed US and NATO officials have admitted that their war in Ukraine is a “proxy war” designed to “vanquish Russia”;
Foreseeing that the proposed Canadian-European “coalition of the willing” (read: military intervention) in Ukraine will not secure the approval of the UN Security Council and will therefore be illegal under international law and the UN Charter;
Recognizing that the proposed “international reassurance force” of 100,000-200,000 soldiers will masquerade as a peacekeeping operation while actually acting to prolong the devastating war in Ukraine;
Be it resolved that the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network opposes any deployment of Canadian troops to Ukraine and will mobilize the Canadian public against it;
Be it further resolved that the CWPJN calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney immediately to bring home Canadian troops from Latvia, Canadian warplanes from Romania, Canadian warships from the Straits of Taiwan, and Canadian military officers from the control room in Bahrain where they are participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian in bombing Yemen. He should also disavow his campaign pledge to raise military spending to “unprecedented” levels;
Be it further resolved that the CWPJN calls on any federal government elected on April 28th to quit NATO at once and open a public debate on developing an independent foreign policy for Canada based on peace, nuclear disarmament, and cooperation with all the countries of the world, including Palestine, whose independence Canada should recognize, as Mexico has just done, joining 146 other UN member states.
Ken Stone, a member of the CWPJN Coordinating Committee in Hamilton, ON, noted that, “Instead of pledging more money for armaments and joining a bellicose collection of countries intent on continuing the war in Ukraine, Mr. Carney should cut off all funding and military support for the Zelensky government and seek a peaceful end to the conflict. The security of Canadians would be better served by fully-staffed hospitals than Senator armoured personnel carriers (1700 of which were pledged to Ukraine by the Trudeau government) and by water bombers rather than F-35 fighter jets.”
Janine Solanki, another member of the CWPJN Coordinating Committee in Vancouver, added, “NATO has left a trail of death and destruction from its military interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Ukraine, all with the participation of Canada’s military. Canada’s bloody warmongering is set to increase, as Canada’s military spending has skyrocketed in recent years, with the 2024 budget increasing annual military spending to $50 billion by 2030. This is set to increase to at least $82 billion as Mark Carney has committing to meeting the 2% GDP NATO target if elected – funds that should be spent on social needs at home, not wars, occupations and military interventions abroad!”
Pierre Jasmin, of les Artistes pour la Paix in Montreal observed that, “Russia’s readiness to make peace with Kiyv under the United Nations’ supervision should prevent Canada and NATO’s Europe from spending 600 billion euros in rearmament that would annihilate the necessary and urgent ecological and anti-poverty UN programs.”
