The Globe and Mail reported that the proposal, unveiled by Defense Minister John McCallum on Tuesday, would also allow Canadian troops to take part in anti-terror operations in the US.

Under the plan, US and Canadian troops would for the first time be allowed to serve under the command of each other's forces in North America, under strict guidelines and on a case by case basis.

The joint force would be used to protect the North American Perimeter. "What we are proposing is a planning group that would set up protocols whereby we could have, conceivably, US troops moving across the border or Canadian troops moving across their border, but only on a case-by-case basis with the approval of each government," McCallum told The Globe.

"In no way does this reduce Canadian sovereignty, because this is a planning group that will have no control over troops," he said.

McCallum added that any deal between Canada and the US would build on existing collaborations between each nation's air force and would include land and sea troops.

After September 11 attacks, the United States created Northcom, a unit responsible for overseeing the US military response to security threats across North American.

Canada had been encouraged to join Northcom, but on Tuesday McCallum told the Globe that it would be impossible to do so because its structure involves only the deployment of American troops.

"Our bottom line is that we are a sovereign nation and we are going to stay a sovereign nation. We don't want to integrate, we don't want our soldiers to be under command of the Americans," McCallum said.

McCallum said that Ottawa prefers to create a planning group that will coordinate efforts to prevent terrorism in North America which could also react to terrorist attacks.

The defense minister said once a final agreement was reached between the two countries it would be forwarded to cabinet for approval.

( August 29, 2002)