 In August 1957 , the Diefenbaker government signed the NORAD ( North American Air Defense ) Agreement with the United States , making Canada a partner with American command and control . The USAF was in the process of completely automating their air defence system with the SAGE project , and offered Canada the opportunity to share this sensitive information for the air defence of North America . One aspect of the SAGE system was the Bomarc nuclear @-@ tipped anti @-@ aircraft missile . This led to studies on basing Bomarcs in Canada in order to push the line further north , even though the deployment was found to be extremely costly . The missile alone was expected to cost C $ 164 million , while SAGE would absorb another C $ 107 million , not counting the cost of improvements to radar ; in all , it was projected to raise Canada 's defence spending " as much as 25 to 30 % " , according to George Pearkes , then minister of national defence . 
