Twelve years ago it won then-Prime Minister some electoral points, but that wouldn't be the case today.

That's from Brandon University Assistant Professor Rick Baker, who's a U.S./Canada relations expert, in reference to Canada's potential refusal to enter into the United States National Missile Defence program. The Conservative party's urging Prime Minister Trudeau to begin talks with the U.S. as soon as possible, and bring Canada into the program, in light of the North Korean threat.

Baker recounts the decision over a decade ago.

"This was a time not too long after the invasion of Iraq, and an increasingly unilateral kind of aggressive American foreign policy," explains Baker. "George W. Bush was not particularly popular in Canada. I think from a PR perspective it was great for Prime Minister Paul Martin at the time to be able to say, 'No, we're not going to do this.' I think it won points politically."

He notes today, the threat is too real to ignore.

Baker says he feels the Liberals will enter the program, but will likely wait so as not to appear compliant to Conservative pressure.

He explains it's absurd to think North Korea will fire the first shot, but there will be retaliation if the United States initiates an attack.

Baker notes he's confident the U.S. would welcome our inclusion into the defence program, seeing as they initially wanted us in. Costs will likely be incurred for Canada to integrate itself into the technology that would include basing interceptor sites in Canadian space, and will certainly be more considerable today than they would have twelve years ago.

Baker adds, "The (North Korean) regime is quite an insecure regime, and it wants to do everything it can to sustain itself. So, possession of a nuclear weapon is important for that purpose. It's hard to attack you if you have a nuclear deterrent. But I think, more than that, they want to be reintegrated into the international community, but on their terms, while they're in possession of a nuclear weapon."