Defence Minister David Pratt told the House of Commons that Canada will not even sign on to the high-tech missile shield without further consultations with Parliament and without knowing all the facts.

Foreign Minister Bill Graham told opponents of Canada joining the program to "stick to the facts ... the nuclear missile defence we are discussing with the United States is not about 'Star Wars,' it is not about the weaponisation of space."

Washington, he said, would go ahead with the scheme "whether we join it or not; we can join without giving up on our basic policy" of opposing weaponisation of space.

Pratt said the talks between Washington and Ottawa "do not involve the weaponisation of space."

Jay Hill, of the opposition Conservative Party, said that while he agreed with Graham and Pratt on starting the talks with Washington and with their opposition to space-based weaponry, he felt Canada should have started negotiations "eight years ago."

Graham suggested possible Canadian participating in the US programme would simply mean a strengthen of the existing bi-national North American defence programme known as Norad.

"The preservation of Norad is central to this debate," said Graham.

But the regional Bloc Quebecois and the left-of-centre New Democrats said they did not believe either the Canadian or the US administrations.

New Democrat member of Parliament Brian Masse attackd "the duplicity of the government's message."

Bloc Quebecois MP Claude Bachand said opinion polls showed the vast majority of Quebeckers opposed Canada joining the missile defense programme.

He said all the United States wanted was "total domination."

Alex McDonough, of the New Democrats, called the program "sheer lunacy."

Both Bachand and McDonough said there was no way the missile defense program could work without a space-based system, and Canada should keep well out of it.

WAR.WIRE