Not only did Canada vote against starting negotiations for a nuclear weapons ban treaty this fall, but now that the international community is moving ahead with the negotiations beginning March 27, Canada is boycotting them. The Liberals have given three different excuses, but none of them make much sense.

Unless the world unites as a federation, as a whole, it will be very difficult to stop our future generations to suffer calamities on a proportion which this globe has never been exposed to before. One example is climate change. New models now predict the possibility of flooding occurring at major cities at a much faster pace than was thought before.

The government of Canada knows that signing the UN Arms Trade Treaty will save lives by stopping the illegal flow of small arms. Minister Baird is faced with a choice then: does he take a meaningful step to prevent carnage like the Nairobi attacks or does he bow to the domestic gun lobby and their fallacious claims? Sadly, I suspect we know the answer to these questions.