"Defence Minister David McGuinty visited the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters in Colorado on July 15 when he met with U.S. Gen. Gregory Guillot. McGuinty noted the government “removed all restrictions on air and missile defence of Canada” but specific details were not provided at the time.

"Defence sources, however, confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen that American officials were told that the February 2005 decision by then-prime minister Paul Martin not to join an existing U.S. missile defence system was no longer valid. At that time, the U.S. wanted Canada to join a largely unproven multi-billion dollar system which was to use ground-based interceptors to destroy incoming missiles aimed at North America."