Communist Party calls for urgent action for peace and disarmament on UN Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

On the UN International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, the Communist Party of Canada joins with peace-loving people around the world in demanding the abolition of all nuclear weapons. This day, established to mobilize international efforts towards our common survival, arrives this year at a moment of unprecedented danger for humanity. The risk of nuclear catastrophe, far from being a relic of the past, is greater today than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The driving force behind this existential threat is the intensified drive to militarism and war by United States imperialism and its allies, including the Canadian government. Washington has ratcheted up its own military spending to over one trillion dollars annually and is demanding that all NATO countries allocate 5% of their GDP to war preparations. For Canada, this would mean annual ‘defence’ expenditures of $150 billion by 2035, a massive transfer of public wealth into the coffers of the military-industrial complex. This staggering escalation is shattering the illusion of the ‘peace dividend’ and is re-configuring the economies of the U.S. and its NATO allies into a full-fledged, permanent war economy. This qualitative leap in war preparations fuels regional conflicts and proxy wars, pushing humanity to the brink of a kinetic war with China that could easily spark a nuclear conflagration.

We must firmly counter any tendency to dismiss this nuclear threat as fear-mongering. The warnings are clear: senior U.S. officials speak openly of war with China by 2030, and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has set its ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 89 seconds to midnight. Preparations for nuclear confrontation are well under way.

Of grave concern to the people of Canada is the Trump regime’s plan to construct a “Golden Dome” under NORAD. Sold as a defensive shield, this system is in fact an essential component of a U.S. first-strike strategy, designed to make a nuclear war seem “winnable” by intercepting retaliatory strikes. This project, which could cost Canada hundreds of billions of dollars, is a direct threat to global security. It would have been illegal under the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, until the U.S. unilaterally withdrew. This pattern of treaty destruction is a hallmark of U.S. policy, which has systematically dismantled the pillars of international arms control—from the JCPOA with Iran and the INF Treaty in Europe to the “Open Skies” agreement and the cancellation of START II negotiations.

This assault on international law and multilateral institutions is part of a broader drive to war, manifest in horrific regional aggressions like the genocidal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Such conflicts hold the constant potential to trigger a wider, nuclear war.

The Communist Party of Canada condemns the complicity of the Carney Liberal government in this march towards disaster. Its commitment to NATO and NORAD, and its refusal to ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), makes Canada a partner in this crime against humanity.

On this day, we reaffirm that the struggle for peace is inseparable from the struggle against imperialism. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate expression of a system that prioritizes profit and domination over human life and the planet. 

Therefore, on this UN Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, we issue an urgent call to the organized forces for peace, the labour movement, and people’s organizations across the country to unite and mobilize. We must demand that Canada immediately sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, launch a mass campaign for Canada’s withdrawal from the warmongering alliances of NATO and NORAD, and vehemently oppose all military spending increases, fighting instead to redirect these vast resources toward social needs: healthcare, housing, education, and a just transition to a green economy.

The total elimination of nuclear weapons is not a utopian dream but an urgent necessity for human survival. It can only be achieved through the organized power of the people, challenging the very system that breeds war.

Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada