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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1963)
MEPFOKP MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON SUNDAY. FEBRUARY, 17. 1963 j U.S. - Canadian Relations Crisis Result of Series of Squabbles Bv BRUCE ACNFW i n il ;....., ,r- J- 11. r- . ....ii ..!-. -. - - - . . . By BRUCE AGNEW United Pins International ("Today if the United Slates and Canada, with their common language, common history, common economic and political in terests and close ties can not live peacefully with one another, then what hope is there for the rest of the world?" -Sen. John F. Kennedy, June, 1957). Washington - UTI' - In the pest of times, U S Canadian relations are marked by a slight uneasiness north of the border and a slight exaspera tion in Washington. The Unilcd States and Can ada have too much in common to get along without trouble. A U.S. dam project can back up water on a Canadian river. A U.S. tariff can pre vent a small baker in Wind sor, Out., from selling his bread in Detroit. A newspaper strike in New York can mean layoffs at a Nova Scotia paper mill. An Open Corridor A Canadian antiaircraft missile without a warhead can mean - in U.S. eyes - an open corridor for Soviet bombers. The inevitable friction is complicated by the fact that Canadians can never forget that their 18.5 million citizens are outnumbered ten-to-one by the population of the friendly giant below their border. They are quick to react to what they regard as pressure tactics, proud of any Canad ian who makes it tough for the United States in negotiat ing (proud also of Canadian baseball players who make the big leagues, or Canadian actors who star on Broadway), insistent that although they like hamburgers and milk shakes and old American movies on television, they are very different from Ameri cans - they are Canadian. But underlying the fric tions, no matter how angry relations seem, is a deep friendship. It is a relationship the United States shares with few countries. The current crisis in U.S. Canadian relations came after a long series of squab bles, not only with the gov ernment of Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker but 'also with the liberal party governments that preceded him before 1957. ' Most of the previous dif ferences were over eco nomic and trade matters. But some of the disputes have involved other mat ters, and have been serious. In April. 11)57, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt com mitted suicide because, ac cording to his embassy, the U.S. Senate Internal Secur ity Subcommittee had made public a charge that he had been a Communist while a student at Columbia uni versity in 1938. Charge Disproved The Canadian govern ment said the charge had long since been disproved, and the then External Af fairs Minister Lester B. Pearson - now Diefenbak er's opponent in the com ing election - called the subcommittee action an "in tolerable" intervention in Canadian affairs. Two months later, Dicfcn baker's progressive conserv ative party beat the liberals in a national election for the first time in 22 years. His campaign had strong undertones of anti-Americanism, though not the bit ter strain of resentment which has appeared in some countries. Diefenbaker call ed it "pro-Canadianism." Diefcnbaker's 1957 election ramp at. a tilTie when U.S.- Csnadian relations already seemed to be heading into one of their bump periods. In the next year and a half differences arose over: U.S. disposal of agricul tural surpluses at low prices and under conditions which Canada fell damaged its ex port markets, (president Ei senhower denied that U.S special-term sales affected world prices because he said the underdeveloped countries involved could not afford world prices. But a joint U.S. Canadian committee was set up to conduct quarterly studies of the program). U S. proposals for quotas on oil imports. (Canada even tually won exemption from quotas.) U.S. imposition of quotas on lead and zinc that cut U.S. imports by one-third. (Eisen hower delayed a decision for further study when the tariff commission first recommend ed the quotas, but finally put them into effect.) Refutes Ford to Sell U.S. refusal to allow Ford of Canada, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor company, to sell 1.000 cars to Communist China. (The United States later promised to take Can adian interests into account, and (hat same year permitted a Canadian subsidiary of a U.S. firm to sell wood pulp to Red China.) Canadian wheat sales to Red China. (They have con tinued.) The heavy proportion of U.S. investment in Canada. (A Canadian study commis sion reported that in 1955 U.S. interests owned 68 per cent of the Canadian petrol eum industry, 51 per cent of the chemical industry, 45 per cent of the paper industry and 95 per cent of the automotive industry. There has not been much change since.) Disclosure of the Strate gic Air Command's "fail safe' system and of alerts with nuclear-armed bombers. (Dief enbaker. assured parliament that U.S. planes carrying nu clear weapons did not fly over Canadian territory except on special occasions and with spe cial permission.) During the same period, however, cooperation went along on building the St. Lawrence seaway connect ing the Great Lakes with the Atlantic ocean, and Canada and the United States signed the North American Air Defense (N'ORAD) agreement, unify ing their air defense forces under one command. President Eisenhower and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, visited Ot tawa in July, 1958. As a result of their talks with Diefenbaker and his cabi net a number of joint U.S. Canadian consultative me chanisms were created, in cluding cabinet-level com mittees on defense and eco nomic matters. But another problem arose. Soon after Fidel Castro ousted the Fulgcncio Batista regime in Cuba in January, 1959, the United States began to have second thoughts about where Castro was leading the Ca ribbean island. Canada saw things differ ently. First Embargo Action In October, 1960, the United States took its first embargo action against Castro. It was not until De cember that Diefenbaker stated a position and it was not all the United States had hoped for. Diefenbaker said Canada would restrict shipments of strategic materials to Cuba and would see that U.S. goods did not reach Cuba through Canadian middle men. But he said otherwise Canadian trade with Cuba would continue. Canadian exports to Cuba not only continued but grew, from $13 million in 1960 to $31.1 million in 1961; but they dropped off sharply last year when. Cuba ran out of foreign ex change. President Kennedy was pop ular in Canada immediately following his election, and his goodwill visit to Ottawa in May, 1961, was just that. This was So even though Canada never took up the invitation he extended to join the Or ganization of American States. But by the time Diefen baker ran for reelection last spring, he was convinced Ken nedy wanted to see him de feated. Canada also was head ing into the economic crisis that resulted in devaluation of the Canadian dollar, emer gency tariff surcharges, and the need for SI. 05 billion in loans and credit arrangements with the United States, Brit ain and the International Monetary Fund. Downward Relalioni Relations between the two countries had begun another downturn. They hit bottom Jan. 30. The Stale Department that night broke a yearlong silence and issued a nuclear policy statement that: (1) flat ly contradicted statements Diefenbaker had made in the House of Commons the week before, and (2) said U.S. nu clear, warheads were neces sary for Canadian missiles and planes under the NORAD and NATO pacts. Nuclear weapons already were the hottest political issue in Canada. Pearson had called on Diefenbaker to fulfill Can ada's commitments and ac cept them. Diefenbaker had coined the phrase "madc-in-Canaria" policies, and observ ers expected him to make it the theme of a new election soon. The Slate Department's policy statement landed in the center of an already unstable situation. Dicfcnbakcr's gov ernment fell six days later. By issuing its nuclear policy statement, the United States completely reversed its stance toward Canada. In the past, the Unilcd States had been silent in public and politely cautious in private about disputes between the two countries. The United States last August hinted it would like to have Canada limit its sales of softwood lumber in American markets. Can ada said no. The United States demurred. The United States last December drew up a new oil quota program that left Canada's exemption un touched, but that hinted the United States would appre ciate it if Canada voluntar ily kept its oil exports with in a set figure (higher than ever before). U.S. officials flew to Ottawa to explain the program. Whether Can ada would slay within the figure was unknown. Releases Details Prime Minister Diefen baker, who was present on the final day of the Nassau conference between Presi dent Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Mac millan. prematurely releas ed details of a U.S.-British-Canadian military aid pro gram for India. The United States said not a word. Even on the nuclear weapons issue, the United States was silent until Dief enbaker revealed that U.S.- ' Canadian nuclear talks had been going on, and present ed a defense analysis sug gesting that the nuclear warheads were no longer needed. U.S. officials felt he had misrepresented U.S. defense policy. They felt they had to get U.S. policy on record. Ap parently believing a new Can adian election was coming in any case, and knowing that once an election began they would have to hold silent, they decided to state the U.S. views regardless of the in evitable political reaction In Canada. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, trying to take some of the bitterness out of the I! S. Canadian breach Feb. 1, said the United States regretted "if our tone was wrong." Sttod By Facts But he stood by "the facts as we understand them"-that nuclear warheads for Can ada's BomarcB missiles, North American defense jet fighters and NATO forces were essential to joint de fense. In an issue less Important than defense, the United States might well have kept silent. But the Cuban crisis gave continental defense plans a deadly serious test that was not passed by all elements. U.S. officials apparently de cided that Diefenbaker was endangering U.S. security by evading a decision and con fusing the issues. 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