missile defenses," he said. "(This) eventually would have rendered NORAD obsolete ... NORAD is an extremely important institution for the defense of North America. It's very much in Canadians' interest to preserve NORAD and have it there," Graham told reporters. A close aide to Prime Minister Paul Martin told Reuters in April that the agreement on information sharing would clearly take Canada closer to signing on to the U.S. missile program. But Martin lost his parliamentary majority in the June 28 election and must rely on support from the left-leaning New Democrats, who are firmly opposed to the U.S. plan. In the past year, some Liberal legislators have threatened to try to bring down their own government if Canada signs on to the plan. --MORE 2319 Local Time 2019 GMT
