When a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over Canada, why didn't we shoot it down?

Amid all the suspicion and intrigue that's been swirling around the Chinese spy balloon are questions related specifically to the time it was flying in Canadian airspace. 

The balloon was first sighted Jan. 28 as it flew over Alaska, according to U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, and it flew over the Yukon and B.C.'s Interior before returning to American airspace over Montana. 

Some Canadians — including opposition party members and CBC readers — have questioned why this country didn't act sooner, why we didn't shoot it down ourselves, and whether Canada's military was even capable of doing so. 

The short answer, according to military experts, is no. 

"To say that, oh, Canada should have shot this balloon down on its own — that's just silly," said University of Calgary history professor and military historian David Bercuson. 

"That just completely ignores the fact that NORAD exists that we're part of it and have been part of it for almost 80 years now."

NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command, responsible for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning. 

Retired major general Scott Clancy, who at one point served as deputy commander of the Alaskan NORAD Region, says while each country has sovereignty over its airspaces, "the binational command of NORAD is both Canada and the United States. It's not one or the other."

He said any decision to act within Canadian airspace would be the purview of the Canadian government, and the NORAD agreement makes NORAD an executor of that decision making.

So in this case, Clancy says as soon as the balloon was identified over Alaska, Canada would have been informed by the commander of NORAD, who would inform "the hierarchies — political and military — of both governments in the United States and Canada simultaneously." 

And the decision as to how to react, he said, would be a "balance between intelligence and operational security and public safety."

NORAD commander U.S. Gen. Glen VanHerck said there was some action taken when the balloon was over Canada. 

"There was some speculation about a second one," he told reporters during a briefing Monday. "I launched NORAD fighters, Canadian CF-18s, and we were not able to corroborate any additional balloon."

Both Clancy, the retired NORAD deputy commander, and Bercuson say that once the balloon was deemed not to pose any tactical threat to people on the ground, it actually offered up an opportunity for Canadians and Americans to gather important information.