Canadian free riders

The Wall Street Journal weighs in:

Prime Minister Paul Martin bowed to a rebellion in his Liberal Party ranks last week and announced that Canada won't participate in the U.S. missile-defense system. Translation from the Canadian: They'll now rely on the Americans to defend their country for them... Of course, the reason Canadians can indulge their moral afflatus against "weaponizing space," and in favor of maintaining "Canadian values," is because they know their proximity means the Americans will always come to their rescue. It's a classic example of what economists call the "free-rider" problem. A statement last week by Defense Minister Bill Graham was particularly revealing. Speaking about Norad -- the binational command located in Colorado Springs that monitors U.S. and Canadian airspace -- he said: "Norad evaluates a threat. Making a decision to launch a missile is a whole other story." But that was the whole point of asking the Canadians to sign on to the missile-defense system -- to include them in the decision-making process in the event of an emergency. As the Canadians were amazed to discover, the U.S. doesn't need them to deploy the shield -- no Canadian radar station, no Canadian territory on which to station interceptors. Washington was nevertheless offering Ottawa a chance to participate in its own defense and choose what its contribution would be. Now, if a North Korean missile targeting Seattle goes off course and heads instead for Vancouver, the U.S. will decide for Canada. Ottawa had been hemming and hawing about the U.S.-led missile defense system since Washington withdrew from the Cold War-era Antiballistic Missile Treaty in 2002. Meanwhile, dire predictions about a new "arms race" failed to materialize and the proposed shield has quietly gone international. Britain, Australia and Japan have signed up; allies in both Old and New Europe have expressed interest, and there's even talk about including Russia. Canada stands alone among America's close allies in its outright rejection of missile defense. The Canadian decision calls into question the future of Norad, which plays a critical role in the U.S. missile defense system. After much internal political angst, Canada agreed last summer to permit Norad to transmit any information it gathers on incoming missiles to the missile-defense system. But the agreement establishing Norad expires next year. Also in the small favors department, Canada announced last week that it would increase its spending on defense, which as a percentage of GDP -- 1.2% in 2003 -- is now the lowest in NATO after Luxembourg and Iceland (which has no military). The U.S. spent 3.5% of GDP in 2003...