Public revelations of plans by Internal Public Safety Canada to prepare for a ‘tactical’ nuclear war in Europe – or North America – hark back to the worst, most dangerous days of the Cold War and McCarthyism in Canada and the US.
In the 1950s the public was told to prepare for a nuclear war with the USSR and to protect themselves by building bomb shelters in their back yards. Many of those people who built these “shelters” also planned to mount machine guns on the top to keep out their neighbours who didn’t build bomb shelters.
Fear was rampant, along with willful ignorance of the catastrophic consequences of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. Over 200,000 people were killed, and an estimated 70,000 more suffered radiation poisoning, horrendous injuries and then death.
In the 78 years since the US used nuclear weapons on these two Japanese cities – the only country to ever use nuclear weapons, the world has been saturated with nuclear weapons much more powerful and destructive than those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Use of the nuclear weapons stockpiled around the world today would mean the end of the world. There is no such thing as a tactical or a limited nuclear war, and efforts to convince Canadians that a tactical nuclear war is survivable, are lies and part of the war-mongering being pursued by the federal government and Parliament.
The only way to end the war in Ukraine, and prevent its expansion is to negotiate an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of all foreign troops and armaments, and a peace agreement that is mutually agreeable.
Instead of war, the Canadian government should adopt a foreign policy of peace and disarmament, get out of NATO and NORAD and redirect those massive expenditures on war to job creation, a 32 hour work week for 40 hours pay, better wages and pensions, housing construction, healthcare and education, childcare, public services and education, and much more that will benefit workers in Canada and around the world.
Remember the victims of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is the time to end the drive to war, and to demand peaceful, political settlements of conflicts.
The future of humanity depends on it.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada
July 21, 2023