Headlines
Canada's Green Party voices concerns over uranium deal with India
Ottawa, April 17
Canada's Green Party has expressed serious concern over the country's uranium deal with India.
Under
the deal, which was signed here with the witness of visiting Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Steven Harper
on Wednesday, India will import 3,000 tones of uranium from Canada in
the coming five years.
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party
of Canada on Thursday said, "Canada 's trade in nuclear materials with
India is a direct violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NNPT)," Xinhua reported.
Green Party's Indigenous Affairs Critic
Lorraine Rekmans said: "Canadians support peace and democracy. Selling
uranium to India could cause us to violate the NNPT if India uses it to
manufacture weapons, and make us part of the global insecurity problem."
Rekmans
urged Canada to promote peace and security abroad. "In the upcoming
review of the NNPT on April 29, we must work with our allies to bring
all stakeholder nations into an improved NNPT."
India has refused
to join the NNPT since it was created in 1970. Canada banned all
exports of nuclear materials to India in 1974 after India used a CANDU
research reactor to develop its first experimental nuclear weapon.
The
export ban was lifted with the Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation
Agreement in 2013, when Canadian International Trade Minister Lawrence
Cannon said "India has been in the penalty box long enough."
The 2013 agreement allows Canadian firms to export nuclear materials, equipment and technology to India.