Canada remains confident that a solution to the current conflict in Iraq can be worked out at the UN, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said after Friday's report by the chief UN weapons inspectors.
"We still have time," Mr. Graham told reporters in Montreal.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told the United Nations Security Council that while co-operation with Iraq has improved, the country has still not accounted for all of its prohibited weapons.
He also said that while amounts of several chemical or biological agents remain unaccounted for including large amounts of anthrax and VX nerve gas his inspectors have found no new evidence of any such weapons in Iraq.
The Prime Minister addresses the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday night. (Tom Hanson/CP)
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Mr. Graham said that he agreed with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who pressed reluctant U.S. allies on Friday to threaten force in Iraq, saying that recent improvements by Iraq are not enough to bring the country into compliance with disarmament demands.
Mr. Graham said that the UN Security Council will now be debating on what step to take next.
"Clearly no country is planning to immediately move on Iraq," he said, adding that if force is used as the last resort it will be when the Security Council decides.
Mr. Graham said he is not aware of any timeline or deadline that has been imposed on Iraq.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said it will take days to decide if the use of force is justified against Iraq in the wake of the UN report.
Mr. Manley, under questioning in the House of Commons shortly after Dr. Blix spoke at the UN, refused to respond formally to the report, saying that the government needs time to examine it.
Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper complained that the Liberal government is refusing to say where it stands on Iraq.
But Mr. Manley said the opposition leader is too anxious to "pull the trigger."
In a speech in Chicago on Thursday night, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien warned that a U.S. attack without UN backing could fatally undermine the world body
Early Friday morning, just over 100 people gathered outside the Department of National Defence headquarters in Ottawa to protest the looming war with Iraq.
The protest was peaceful, a spokesman from the department told globeandmail.com. No arrests or damage to the building were reported, he said.
