Canadians Don’t Trust Anyone When It Comes To Peace

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by MarK Lowe

SASKATOON (CUP) - Canadians are more _ skep- tical of both the superpow- ers when it comes to peace and East-West relations than hey were twenty years ago, according to a recent survey.

The survey was. con- ducted by Don Munton, a political science professor at he University of British olumbia, for the Canadian nstitute for International Peace and Security. A ques- ionnaire was sent to over 2,000 homes across Canada pnd Munton reported a re- sponse of 1,015, or 48 per ent.

“Most Canadians now perceive the policies and eaponry of both superpow- ts, not just the USSR, as he major problem in East-

est relations,” the study oncluded.

But Munton noted this ces not suggest a rampant nti- Americanism. “It is not America Canadians are neg- tive about, nor Americans. is certain American poli- hes,”

Among the findings were : at a quarter of Canadians lew the superpower arms Ace as the greatest threat ° world peace, while 29 per ent thought the spread of uclear weapons to smaller Ountries was most serious, md 28 per cent blamed the tuation in the Middle East. nly a small number consid-

ed Soviet or US actions to © the most dangerous.

While most respondents P2 per cent) felt Soviet- merican relations had re- ‘ined about the same in

Thursday March 3rd_1988

OF course we ct youve quite used fo me over the

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that both countries were re- sponsible, and the other 50 per cent viewed the USSR as responsible for improvement and blamed the US if they felt there was deterioration.

The survey also showed slightly more Canadians be- lieved there is ‘much danger’ of a nuclear war (55 per cent) and more thought the danger had increased from ten years ago (31 per cent). The sur- vey compared these results to a similar survey done in 1971 and found the number considering the likelihood of nuclear war to have more than doubled over ten years.

Canada’s role in world peace was also questioned, and again there was a higher element of cynicism. Only a very small minority (4 per cent) suggested Canada had a great deal of influ- ence while a majority (52 per cent) described it as very lit-

tle. About 56 per cent

thought of Canada as being neutral between the super- powers, despite Canada’s in- volvement in the North At- lantic Treaty Organization, and 57 per cent supported the idea of Canada becoming

a nuclear-free zone. But the survey also

found that though Canadians seem to be in favour of nu- clear arms control, they are not against armed defence in general. Results

showed that women are con- sistently more distrustful of the state of East-West rela- tions, of both Gorbachev and Reagan, and more support- ive of Canada becoming a nu- clear weapons free zone, than men. Men were less pes- simistic about recent devel- opments in world affairs and more confident that the su- perpowers could avoid con-

flict.

Graphic/Gauntlet

In his conclu- sion, Munton said growing suspicion of American pol- icy should not be blamed entirely on the Reagan era, and the recent intermedi- ate Nuclear Forces agree- ment would probably result in a more positive view of both sides.

“These attitudes, dis- tinctly post-cold war and post-detente in nature, seem destined to play a continuing and key role in future policy debates within Canada and the Western alliance,” said Munton.

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