The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 forced the Canadian House of Commons to consider whether Canadian forces in NORAD and NATO were effective without nuclear warheads on special weapons systems. This paper provides an overview of the debates and their milieu, identifies the issues involved, and analyzes the effects of the argumentation. The shifting and reformulating of opinions by the nation's press as the debate progressed demonstrated that oral arguments were a means of challenging and informing opinion-making groups such as newspaper editors and reporters. The debate resulted in the defeat of the Conservative party, the return of the Liberal party to power, and a change in Canada's nuclear weapons policy. (Author/AA)