Canada Turns Down 'Star Wars' Program Role

While turning down Reagan's March 26 invitation on the surface, Mulroney nevertheless spoke highly of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, the formal name for Reagan's five-year, $26-billion program to determine the feasibility of a space-based defense against nuclear attack.

Moreover, Mulroney, who made the announcement after two days of consultations with his Cabinet and the ruling Progressive Conservative Party caucus in Parliament, said that Canadian scientists and private high-tech industries are free to take part in the American project.

However, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told reporters that his government nevertheless supports the U.S. effort to explore the feasibility of a space-based defense system as "prudent in the light of significant advances in Soviet" nuclear armament.

OTTAWA — Canada on Saturday formally turned down President Reagan's invitation to take part in his "Star Wars" space defense research program, deciding that it is not in the Canadian national interest.

"Only a 6-year-old child" would be naive enough to think that the Soviet nuclear arsenal doesn't present a threat, the prime minister said.

Mulroney's action followed a recommendation made last month by a special parliamentary committee that Canada should maintain some distance from the U.S. program.

It also was a display of the prime minister's tendency to fence-straddle on controversial issues in an attempt to cut the ground from under his critics while not quite rejecting programs that he had previously supported.

In this case, he tried to avoid charges by the two opposition parties and influential sectors of the nation's academic and cultural community that it would compromise Canada's traditional stance as a mediator between the superpowers if this country should join what they describe as a potentially destabilizing and dangerous acceleration of the nuclear arms race.

This tactic was evident from a statement by Mulroney on Saturday--that accepting Reagan's invitation would run against Canadian national interest by getting this country "into an area where the parameters are beyond our control."

At the same time, however, Mulroney hopes to bolster the country's lagging high-tech industry by allowing it to bid on "Star Wars" contracts. According to his aides, the prime minister anticipates that this would also create badly needed jobs for scientists who might otherwise be tempted to leave Canada for better opportunities in the United States.

Cover Up Embarrassment

And by publicly backing Reagan's concept, Mulroney expects to cover up any embarrassement to the President that might arise from having his presumed closest ally turn him down on a favorite project.

This was particularly important to the United States, diplomatic sources here said, because only Israel has accepted the Reagan invitation. Even such strong allies as Britain and West Germany have hedged their responses.

The prime minister said that he informed Reagan of his decision Saturday. He would not characterize Reagan's response, but he did say that "I don't think there will be any disappointment in the White House."

Other Canadian officials said that because nearly all Canadian scientists and high-tech engineers work in universities and private firms and will be allowed to take part in "Star Wars," Mulroney is providing just about all the expertise the Americans would have received if the prime minister had linked his government formally to the research program.